Anne-Marie Albiach: Two Poems

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translated from

the French by

Peter Riley

Shearsman Books

Exeter

2004

Anne-Marie

Albiach

Two Poems:

Flammigre

&

The line the loss


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First published in 2004 byShearsman Books,58 Velwell Road,Exeter EX4 4LD,

England,

The original texts were published as follows:

Flammigre(Sicle Mains, London, 1967).Copyright Sicle Mains, 1967.

La ligne la perte inje te continue ma lecture: Mlanges pour Claude Royet-Journoud(P.O.L. diteur, Paris, 1999)Copyright P.O.L. diteur, 1999.

The translations are copyright Peter Riley, 2004.All rights reserved.

The publisher wishes to thank Anne-Marie Albiach for her kindpermission to publish these works, and Peter Riley for undertakingthe translations.

ISBN 0-907562-41-8


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ANNE-MARIE ALBIACH

flammigre

English version by Peter Riley


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5

the size of the sexin the uncertainty of genderand the singularities of the pluralremains with us

we strangersassigned to this wound

this rigid quest

whatever the resultingequation inhered intothe enigmaflesh rejoins bloodand mingles therewith the heat existsin the preciseness of absenceSpace weighs upon blackslowness of caress


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6

carnal simultaneitypoint of space where our

assimilable futures confront each otherand the male joint that unites usone with the otherin the welcoming enigma of the languagereverse side of realitywherefemale Nettle

sterility pinches the green gutinto unmovinginto unperturbedinto clarity of the scarsand renewed death of the bladesknives inhering in their light

gets up humbles himselfgets up folds up in black as in the egg of abeach shimmering with heatand coiled on the sand is reborn in the sterile fibres ofthe trinitarian androgyne


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into cremation of the powersthe humble enslaved returnto the landseduction: roots veins coaxed

to reintegrate the matrixwithdrawal to prismenclosure of a catacombbusy with wings

Heat of the illusioninto the tenderness of the muscles and of the gait

to raise the anchorsto stiffen the dreams amputations

aspiration their woundstowards the uniform sectioning of timegame, cutting edgewhere the present is flayedand our wound with it


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Dylan quest born again in the arteriesof this throngunique the breath revives again ourpersonal eternity

you have to fearyou have to fearthe aim of the inexorable returnpossesses usand the score of all painbirth-cry of the sound I bring you

to the shout at last

To give the illusionmake yourself out carnaland give it at the expense of appearances flagellationsas quick as the sightvanishedI have dreamt of him

Concentration extreme volition of the muscletide of breathmastered and regainedthe permanent threat

but to absurdity this rushmore quicklymoreand to againthe anguish a breathor a room or a straw matpress ustowards


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9

A single profile and our kneeslike floggingsof the impossibledesires still-born of the prismthese impulsions torment us

Cesspit of soundsTrihedron of the stairs


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10

Slowness of firePangs of dissolutionbruised desire for the futurethe sap of a pleasure erasesthe unity to be won backBreath safeguards

He says lacerationnon-existencethose carnivorous plants, our ancestorsthe heat the weatherthe space of a lookof a flight that fallsthe bend sharpensthis dream protects us

from the fall

(in you) (in us)

a sword that runs us throughthe ravaged space

and yet the fissure is in this mud


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11

slowness of the plantswonder of the molecules

water and speechspace you have to believe in it

the morning

ambivalence of quartzpainfulthe lined fabric of his voiceSome of the scars closestroke the ivory without fearyou like a blue stone

joy, spontaneity of the movementshigh accord unexpected

I shoutreflection of the blind mirrorand in the sonorous solitudein being, door tight shut

tears behind the lookin permanent terms


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12

A look lies waitingon the across the stairbundle of branchesThe hunger for white

heatfor the immeasurable

spirit of the plantsfor millennia the earth has been returning to usand we go to earth

in the spirit of the plants


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the larvae launch their attack on the summits

earthen crystallization of words

the mind and its reptilian circumferencedeep-sea eye intrinsic cyclopsarrived a fossil across the virginal ages of the earthbearing artful tree-trunksa habit of the suns

the fire potential and ridiculousdresses a plinth for them

transparency of the unicornflower garnered in the rampantroots

BREATHintact among the grasping for objectsour union in a movementhardly


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ANNE-MARIE ALBIACH

The line the loss

English version by Peter Riley


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the account would be blindthe spasms of the oracle structurein the working of coloursthe margin constrains the circlethe evidence on the groundin a perfect liquidity

where the languagegoes back on its wordthe heart in the rhythm of denialthe light rejoins weakness

in the former declarationthe facts of the case withdraw to the horizona term found wantingdriving accusation of the air full of gesturesdedicated to the embrace

the subject shrinkssleep bears them into the clearing

In scarlet draperiesthey presided on the themeof an absence


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Delineation of desireDiscourse, relapsed murmuring

the representation:soundless expanse of vocabulary

space, a morning datumthe cold imprints the contoursthe witness gives out the themefacing discreditthis coolness troubling to the eyeThe simulacrum opens the wound

heaviness

disavowal, bestiarythe partition where childhoods alphabetwatched by a strangerthe numerical parallels their connections

it transpires of the worda notch

an attentive duplicitythe fall of a body is lackinggenre adjustmentthe random displacementinterval

: the objects

flood onto the table at low tide


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the conjunction parabolain applying the stroke a sign of mental aridityas a hearthCaress, acrid slowness

The trihedral suspendedfar away the blood on the wriststhe meadow the territory into the distanceProlonged into the neuterscrupulous wakesteps countedVision slows towards the edgessubversive notionA paralysis progresses and descendsinto bewildermenta concise disorder is enthralled with him who stays awake

extended towards the meeting point

A splinter in the chest: she no longer risked itto the extreme or the customin the versification

a stray pennytime implodes where the neighbourhood endsat the limit an unshakable doubtthe arithmetic of disasteracuity of an expression immediate tendernessdrawn into ludic intent

the lining our glances


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reverberationthe links laid barein the mutterings: starting again for a few minutesprior to articulation a land without mooringsThe plea of origins confusion: the driftingOf inner mist a night of outbreaksattack on sacred places

Caught out palpable blackvague profilereverted glances :

interjunctionconsonance of vowels forbidden signsforgotten homicide in specifyingA veil of heat would divert the breath

in lossblueing of the eyelidsThe stake becomes unclear the enigma arrivesadjoining theatreindelible actionsStatement concerning a deviationthe murderous analogies laceration

head turned aside during the acquittalthe opacity

absentees in the fiction


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all along the river-banksThe image cast back at the lower angle

geographical accuracy(the outcrop of hours passed under threat)

full harmoniesa ritual

the shadow the screenthe erosion

the voice releases a latent pulsion

the finale shrinksas if at this reversaldevoted to the ashes

revives the alphabetsimulacrumlooking onto the courtyard the grip of the real(all the earth is frozen)in an accession of symbols

To raise the obstructing masslatent confusionwork of felling the fencesuntranslatable they shrinkconceptual localities in the backgroundinnerve a thoughtin this future extentmute they follow the track of signsTurning their heads they know this wound

humidity of the sheets in September evenings


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multiform silenceout of bounds declension

close to the lacerationDouble exposure in the motive

I turn the pagethey insist on the partitions

the real declares itself uncertainin the description

irradiates the napetowards a verticalprints in wild placesby this ritual she reties

Closed on the judgement cuts shortan abstract discriminationour steps on the paving

a rectangle of lightthe chords febrileat the borderrepudiate the trail that leads to this placeAlong the veins

a contrivance

ingestion theatricalthe tissue rips apart when we look at itShe wanted to get away

they brought her back by forcedarkness

adherence to the forms


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nodistraction on the paths that meet leading to the searebellion up against the letterone word wipes out the censureupheaval of the rhythmsfamiliar dilacerationthe sense is lostpartition ignorance runs short

into a term of coparcenarydeteriorates

we shall have to begin all over againlead it towards its divergence

they speak from afarmultiple in the confusionshe feeds herself on that groundA choking that they disapprove of

on the segmentsImmersed in an alien logicthey act out the development

The first signswhere the name repudiates itself:

a strength harbours this gentlenessthe vicedetermines the distance apart

on the underside of the story

that which scatters


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or determinesa thirst abridges the distancesthey didnt know the originthis modethe withdrawal applies to the measuresThe re-offending blasphemousa pain in the sideat the intersectionthe bulk obliterates the darktrapped in the sceneryan invertebrate curveAnother stain on the groundit remains the songs double-barosmosis elaborated in the silenceA cycle at its endthe slowness since the latitudesintends an overture

infatuated with the motif(they advance in the dark)beside some water coursethorough dazzlementwhat is saidin this consanguinityhunger cold and nocturnal riotsshe walkedspelling out a grammar


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the equivalent readingin abusive co-ordinatesOn a platform on the edge of a rivera gaping sentencethe presence in filigreethroughout the discoursefor a deeper cutthe nul point that hurtsin the thoughtthe telling of an erotismmakes itself uniquely clear


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Translators Note

All I have tried to do is to represent in English the primary experienceof the original text, to identify the semantic entities performing in thistense and startling theatre. This work would never have got even thatfar without the invaluable help of Jean Khalfa, Andrew Rothwell, andIan Patterson.

PR

Anne-Marie Albiach: Two Poems

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