POEM BY E. AMATO
TRANSLATED TO FRENCH BY CATHERINE S. WEBSTER
IMAGE BY JOANNA WINOGRAD
A poem by E. Amato from her book Will Travel. Inspiration found in Essaouira, Morocco.
SOUIRI CHILDREN
The boy children
kick anything round
small as it is
from one side of the stone street
to the other
from one doorway
past a few alleys
however they can
throngs of people present no obstacle
ball the size of a handball
a tennis ball a baseball
a toddler’s first ball
there are no soccer balls here
but a ball is a ball
a boy is a boy
and they will kick
then they will throw themselves
onto rainwashed stone
to stop its progress before it escapes
their grasp
they are loud with each other
they are joking
they are running and loping
between the tourists
the stall-keepers the daily shoppers
the mothers and grandmothers
the boys do not see them
only the round object
and their friends
the girl children
i do not see them
i do not see them at all.
LES ENFANTS SOUIRI
Les enfants masculins
frappent tout ce qui est rond
petit comme il est
d’un côté de la rue en pierre
de l’autre
d’une embrasure de la porte
au-delà de quelques ruelles
peu importe comment ils peuvent
des foules de gens ne posent aucun obstacle
ballon de la taille d’un handball
d’une balle de tennis d’un baseball
du premier ballon d’un bambim
il n’y a aucun ballon de foot ici
mais un ballon est un ballon
un garçon est un garçon
et ils frapperont
il se jetteront
sur la pierre lavé par la pluie
afin d’arrêter son progrès avant qu’il n’échappe
leur poigne
ils sont bruyants ensemble
ils se rigolent
ils esquivent en bondissant
parmi les touristes
les marchands forains les habitués quotidiens
les mères et grand-mères
les garçons ne les voient pas
rien que l’objet rond
et les copains
les enfants feminins
je ne les vois pas
je ne les vois pas du tout.
E. AMATO
CULTURE KEEPER
E. Amato is a Berlin-based published poet, award-winning screenwriter, and established performer, with three poetry collections released by Zesty Pubs: Swimming Through Amber, Will Travel, and Daughters of Invention. She has been featured in KCET’s LA Letters as one of five emerging female writers. Her poetry is included in Tia Chucha Press’s The Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes & Shifts of Los Angeles, Voices from Leimert Park Redux: Los Angeles Anthology, and 1001 Nights: Twenty Years of Redondo Poets. You can find her on Twitter and Facebook.
Translator Catherine S. Webster, Ph.D., is dean of the College of Liberal Arts and professor of French at the University of Central Oklahoma. She has lived, studied, and taught French literature in New York City, Paris, and Asheville, North Carolina.
Illustrator/designer Joanna Winograd is an artist illustrator based in Berlin. Her approach reflects the influences of the multiple countries and cultures where she grew up and has lived. Inspired by this plurality, she creates a style that is simultaneously naive, dark, ruthless, lucid, and optimistic. Visit her website for more.
