Give Me a Person
Give me a person to cover me, there is a draft of cold air in my loneliness;dig as I might in my belly I find only stones.(Perhaps you should dig with me too.)On the way to my face I collect rocks by the handful.That is why I tell you, give me a person!To lie on him in all my meridians, in all my latitudes,to rest, to drink his sweat, to sleep.Let me enjoy a little this fluffed warmth.Give me a person, a person with a cause, a heart that does not function with a valve, lips that do not err in kisses.Someone who writes human poems, or at least cries when he hears the sound of Coltrane in his breath.How terrible it is losing three fingers in such a crowd.Give me a person to help me as I enter and exit my hands, as my trousers fall or I step on the laces of my otherness.Look how my footsteps shiver with cold as I scramble to leave behind me Kallidromiou Street.(This lack of asphalt within me often leaves me speechless.)Give me a person within whom three chords sound.A person who will shake my gender within the chill of the A7 bus. I need his chest so that I can hear my heartbeat, I need his shoulders to carry my life.Is there no person for me?Just give me someone!Even one who sleeps standing rasping.At least a woman who defends my voice with her larynx.She would certainly be for me!Or give me at least her embrace, along with an owner's manual.Now that the stigmata on my palms have healed I can pray to the peopledressed in my Sunday best.
Feature Date
- February 17, 2022
Series
- Translation
Selected By
Share This Poem
Print This Poem
“Give Me a Person” from THE LIGHT THAT BURNS US: by Jazra Khaleed
Published by World Poetry Books October 29th, 2021
English copyright © 2021 by Peter Constantine.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Jazra Khaleed is a poet, translator, and filmmaker. He lives in Athens, writes exclusively in Greek, and his works are an indictment of fascism, social injustice, police brutality and racism in contemporary Greece. His most recent publications are The Light That Burns Us (World Poetry Books, USA), Requiem pour Homs (Marges en Pages, France) and μα είν’ αυτό ποίηση; (Teflon Books, Greece).
Peter Constantine’s recent translations include works by Augustine, Rousseau, Machiavelli, and Tolstoy; he is a Guggenheim Fellow and was awarded the PEN Translation Prize for Six Early Stories by Thomas Mann, and the National Translation Award for The Undiscovered Chekhov. He is the director of the Program in Literary Translation at the University of Connecticut.
Berkeley, California
“…an explosive cadence… Khaleed’s sentiment toward the would-be aesthetes seems clear: ‘Fuck off, flower poets.’”—David Wallace, The New Yorker
“[Jazra Khaleed] stands up to fascism by writing and performing Greek-language poetry that is unmatched in technical bravura, emotional depth, and political urgency. He performs his poetry at a lightning clip — so fast the Nazis can barely keep up, let alone talk back — a hip-hop emcee in a fever.”—Max Ritvo, LA Review of Books
“…agitated and delirious and necessary.”—Lotte L.S, Mute
Poetry Daily Depends on You
With your support, we make reading the best contemporary poetry a treasured daily experience. Consider a contribution today.
