V i n c e n t B r o q u a —
translated by L é o n P r a d e a u —
letting him run here he all-rounder he five-fingered ardently
he written he boarded searched teaching him to say these words introduce him
the granites clays mixed and flamed the ebonies mahogany steel concrete he letters
word after word effaced the cards the luminescent machines he prince of anhalt
he goes simple goes easy goes greyhound and glorifying the illusion he life he going out
in protected mode perfecting him without his insidious software he aided hearing
always return him expressions rob him them from maximally he
attacks he collides undresses him he pulls him toward himself this one
holds he hold him holds he hold him takes he turned over after him
learns 1-2-3 folded he shot off of dancing tumble mats
make him so it doesn’t look like anything he wicker pockets
he ceramic tiles he portraits of him and her embellished
he powder of a withering language mickey’s entertainments
their comics’ pure station the swimsuits coral red unfurled
he diamond mirror’s rigorous frame he woman or man he of themself
neon rows rodchenko tatlin the impossible litany of beauty he
of his traces his steps of him in electro snow he and their digital
colors their flowers and great numbers his affirmations of themself his their
confidence he their faith unfaithful he their lovers in row their
he their little girlfriends the opaque zones in language
he words malfunctioning for passing embraces them not him if he means appropriating
her he and her and them and they still free to address her and s/he as well
they shadow of a moon he starry gait in kepler’s universe he
fuckpads and one-night infatuations the impossibilities he stranger by the lake
he shrill hiss the fan-shaped book he finalized scenarios he
unpronounceable false friends the exits of lexical roads a finger ready for use
he furtive diva the progressive definition of him positions and objects
the white noise of his card in the postal machines he hello from Oran
he reader she reader to him the cut out rhythms of uttered sentences
he extension of fingers he figurative mosaic the montage of sequences
he wonders of Italy under the warmth of him the skin of feasts of him
the locks of memling of hockney tillmans of leather belts he smell of cedar the
physique of him his flat tints he yellow blue red bubble-gum
he great sentences cut out periods at point blanking boom goes a breath
he blowing he sulfur separating earth from sky he digging the fountains lakes flat
swamps the slope of free rivers he on the shorelines and shores him
the murmuration of bee-eaters the alarm of a hare the hoopoe’s revolt
of them nocturnal insurrection he intangible construction of animal materials
on him the endless mineralization of amorous contents into sedimentary
magmatic metamorphic plutonic volcanic he chips in sandstone
of dolomites granites slates clays schists marbles and pumices
he limestones quartz porphyry he underground rocks or asphalt opal silex
he bones stored in mountains a flower’s yellow corolla and veals
toward the mothers’ herd he blocks of wax in ears a tree of which the sap
pressed upon him clear against him their condensed blow his mosaic cube
he flowing the severed tongue but his what shall the language be of he the universe
and after him all these colors applied on the body after him these drawings
in the pure drive of original curves of his these outlined barcodes
tattooed on the neck of him these names on the sexual organs of him
feathers swollen green with blue shown off to the female peacock inside him
in the metros he of alphavilles or the jolly boats on a river of nymphs
of his who just turned off the gesture of him decisive plunges day into night
he his grand garment undresses her of fathomlessness strips her him all along
of time lived in the sleep of him of his one on one detachment of their epiderm
beware of epidaurus of sleep he their coryphaeus with no audience devoid of him
society of buttons of blousons of pantaloons of just of him before entering
under the sheets of him wardrobe mistress the screeching of static phenomena in him
snows on screens shhhhh weak signals do him like this like that
for him these vibrated voided screeched sounds of him in the torment of his ties
of him claiming the stranger translation within him metamorphic material of this here
liar liar watch it watch him pants on give it give him words any kind
make him me I she they we y’allways lying he pants on fire
insolent the little signs hyperbolic facts impossible unreadable
he overstated of over him word the red of a bad pun he
blue pierrot fool blue is the yellow dynamite rocks all blown up of him smeared
with anna karina’s purple red I dunno the colors of a parrot
sound bite he swallowing everything he scrambler the shredded broken
speech their fall he ridges of a casual ensemble he
a he b he a he b a he ba he built beast balancing buckled still putting him on
he beating he irregular he of his correction him we will get
heard it all he torsion the muscles the glistening birds ribbed and the stripes
return of him born in the skin of touch stones he telling him face-to-face
he pulverized aerosol in concentric circles on him of nimble skin
he peacocks pulling the goddess he let’s just move on naked he feathered
he first and last names the adjectives prepositions of all
genders he you we I you he she their impossible pronounciation
he gifts me the book of him white towel around his hips
he hidden revealed he pagan monotheist buddhic atheist animist
or the capitals he epigraphic zone of him returning the favor
of red fabric the smooth stoned house he tells him about the passion
he has for him extreme the reaction of piles of poems he digital screen
he field of blood oranges in Olympia he analogic process
contrapposto the layout of gestures unbound in relation to others
the danceless choreography the fold and refold of a leg stretched now
his piping range of Genet breaths he she their sentences’ musculature
he blurred shape he runner in montsouris park the cyclist slender sportsman
curly one brown-haired one the real history he entire art of engraving
the inlines the rubbing inks press he unlimited print run
he amoroso abduction epidermic wound neatly pressed against him
his subcutaneous strike the spalling of well-established forms
he I believe in miracles he I tell you = y’ = I me he or she but
they in multilanguages constantly multiplied translated happy babel
he repeated material of all words of a pronoun enlarged in animals
stones earth sky all he needs to become she their hoopoe air
his cloudy air madly passionately he not him not her knots him knots her nods
at him they nodding or not expressing wholes he whole of her in passing
a few forms subdued hypersexualized of him her desire to act a build
she to reach it all she nothing she acanthi and euphorbias they end-of-season desiccated fruit
nascence and negation she violent sun spreading in broad ceramic strokes
the great work of wild hilarity she a beckett play not me she with
language projected like that ahead of teeth she and his assigned monolog
their great endless litany of parallel figures of comic strip transfers
Excerpt from “La température des mots” (in Photocall, projet d’attendrissement, Les Petits Matins, 2021).
Published with permission from Les Petits Matins. The first part of this poem appeared in issue 4 of Sarka.
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