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Two poems from Modern Poetry in Translation, 2019, No. 2, The Illumined Paths: Focus on Poets of the Maghreb.

Other Banks by Fatma Krouna [trans. Victoria Adukwei Bulley]

I love you more in temperate climates
away from the killing sun
and the long and boring Sundays.
I see us here, on the other banks of life
on the sands of the coastlines
among the grasses of the gardens.
We plant roses in the illuminated paths
and cultivate kisses on the trains arriving
from the happy cities;
we pick them fresh from the rain dampening
our footsteps, yet our footsteps remain light
and the paths remain lit
and the trains arrive on time
and you love me more
and you do not delay, or forget
the name of the flower I love.

Laughing Blue by Adil Latefi [trans. Adham Smart]


Maybe these words make no sense
Maybe they mean everything

Your embrace was
a flock of doves
eating from my hand
The waves have stripped off their effort
and put mine on

Like how life flows from your eyes
and my eyes lap it up
like how the ghost of poetry came falling down on me
from a window in the sky
your absence was
a thirsty glass
in your absence I was
light
drenched in dew

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