Translation of two poems by Jacques Demarcq
by Jennifer K Dick
[ poetry - july 11 ]
Jacques Demarcq was born in Compiègne in 1946 and lives in Paris. He is the author of numerous works including Les Zozios (Nous, 2008) and Nervaliennes (Corti, 2010), and has translated the work of e.e. cummings, Gertrude Stein and Andrea Zanzatto.
Nightingale
ohhhh ! true teeuu teeuu teeuu teeow tout
fillohout
zzzeeuu... truelavhee tewtrottee
jig-oh-lowt
tch’cat
come closer I’ll
trrrrrrue
whoeat
oh yes
& tis-if ?
fear or flow-fleeing, decoy
tip of
mouth-meowls
brightened
wail
I to-holekeyway in poetry
at the bark-end of my rosy drill
playing three turns of
trrrue, bass, door
Eros
right
in
tail
thúfutittlingur [1]
like a ball brushing my forehead
I stop dead
planted atop a post eying me suspiciously
pssit-pssit-pssit
a meadow pipit
breast ruffled by wind
I take 3 steps
some sensation slips up my spine
turning me suddenly
he’s veered off already
perched atop the next post
pssit-pssit-pssit
and so 50m of prairie
his
the peasant didn’t crop
three posts behind
his girlfriend I guess
admires his roguish game
