alors
la stupeur qui vient
recouvrir
la stupeur et de proche en proche
l’ancienne stupeur
non redoubler
sur la neige
dire silence mer gelée blanc sidéral
blanc dire blanc sans forme sans loi
blanc vide et blanc
comment dire
tais
toi
toi
mais parle
then
the stupor that comes
cover it up
the stupor and nearby nearby
the ancient stupor
not to repeat
on the snow
to say silence frozen sea cosmic white
white to say white without form without law
white empty and white
how to say it
shut up
you
you
but speak
tu demandes
sous tes pas
c’est la terre?
You ask what’s
under your steps,
the earth?
Indran Amirthanayagam writes poetry in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole. He is the author of twenty five books of poetry and poetry in translation, including Seer (Hanging Loose Press, 2024), The Runner's Almanac (Spuyten Duyvil, 2024), Origami: Selected Poems of Manuel Ulacia, Blue Window (Dialogos Books) The Migrant States (Hanging Loose Press 2020),Coconuts on Mars (Paperwall, 2019), Uncivil War (Mawenzi House (formerly TSAR), Canada, 2013), and the Paterson Prize-winning The Elephants of Reckoning (Hanging Loose, 1993). Amirthanayagam is a 2020 Foundation for Contemporary Arts fellow in poetry, and a past fellow of the New York Foundation for the Arts, the US/Mexico Fund for Culture, and the MacDowell Colony. He publishes poetry books with Sara Cahill Marron at Beltway Editions (www.beltwayeditions.com), edits The Beltway Poetry Quarterly; curates the reading series Poetry at Beltway Editions, He serves on the Board of DC-ALT. His blog is http://indranamirthanayagam.blogspot.com
Christine Guinard is a professor of literature, a translator and a musician. She publishes in numerous literary magazines. Her poetic works include Si je pars comme un feu (L'Arbre à paroles), En surface (Éléments de langage), Des corps transitoires (Mémoire vivante), Il y a un soir, il y a un matin (Ce qui reste), Time Lapse (Corridor Éléphant), Sténopé (Unicité), Autour de B. (Unicité).