A young man pauses as night falls on Corail-Cesselesse, March 17, 2010. Photo by Scout Tufankjian.
A Creative Time Reports and PEN American Center collaboration
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—
A Port-au-Prince
Je déplace encore les mots
à ma guise
mais les maisons sont trop lourdes
à porter
aucun miroir phraseur
pour nous informer
seul les trottoirs
nous disent ironiquement :
maisons sans amants
maisons sans enfants
maisons larmoyantes
descellées
esseulées
vides
A chaque famille
Sa ration de morts
Partout s’imposent les murs
Plus intimement
Dans notre vie
Sans sommation
Three months after the earthquake, with the main downtown still destroyed, a woman walks through her neighborhood. Photo by Scout Tufankjian.
In Port-au-Prince
I’m still shifting words about
as I please
but the houses are too heavy
to carry
no chattering mirror
to inform us
only the sidewalks
tell us ironically:
houses without lovers
houses without children
houses in tears
unsealed
forsaken
empty
To each family
Its share of dead
Everywhere the walls force themselves
More intimately
Into our life
Without good morning
Without summons
Translated by Christine Schwartz Hartley
Georges Castera