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A salute to Jacques Berque

I imagine his voice as the sound of a tambourine,

that the tambourine is broken in his throat,

that his throat is a fire named God.

I imagine a poet

into whose innards history pours

drenching his words and pooling at his feet,

a poet who rains blood that some hoist as a banner made of sky.

from I Imagine a Poet

Khaled Mattawa, translation from
the Arabic written by Adonis

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