Dowsing
Translated By Emilie Moorhouse
Husband neglecting you?
Invite his mother to sleep in your room
Then sprawled in the armoire next to the bed
Project your final word along with a handful of salamanders
In the mirror where the shadow sways
Husband avoiding you?
The divine director must be put on a diet
Piss in his soup when he lies down happily next to you
Be gentle but skillful stuffing the fat goose
With octopus messages
And mandrake roots
Tease his kinks with a silk brush
Sprinkle his moth with blood and soot
Be sure to smile when he dies in your arms
Despite himself he will think of you
_____
I do not know hell
But my body has been burning ever since I was born
No devil stirs my hate
No satyr pursues me
But the verb turns to vermin between my lips
And my pubis too sensitive to the rain
Motionless like a mollusk flatulent with music
Clings to the telephone
And cries
In spite of myself my carrion fanaticizes over your ousted old cock
That sleeps
Translated from the French
Notes:
Read the French-language original, “Rhabdomancie.”
This poem is part of “When Can I See You Again: The Poetry of Joyce Mansour,” translated by Emilie Moorhouse. You can read the rest of the portfolio in the June 2023 issue. All the English translations of Joyce Mansour’s poems are from Emerald Wounds: Selected Poems, edited by Emilie Moorhouse and Garrett Caples. Translations copyright © 2023 by Emilie Moorhouse. Reprinted with the permission of City Lights Books. For more information, visit www.citylights.com.
Source: Poetry (June 2023)