Scissors

Omama Zaier
Translated from the Arabic by Ali Znaidi

She cut a piece of cloth
and named it yesternight.
She cut another piece
and named it tomorrow.
Now she has two pieces of cloth to erase the memory.
She cut the poet’s dream, his tongue, and his fingers.
She cut the umbilical cord, the flowers of the balcony, and the moons of the house next door.

Now she has a man tied to the heel of her shoe with the ropes of lust.

 

 

مقصّ

قصّت قماشة
..وسمّتها البارحة
قصّت قماشة أخرى
..وسمّتها غدا
..الآن لديها قطعتا قماش لمسح الذّاكرة
..قصّت حلم الشّاعر، لسانه ، أصابعه
..قصّت حبل السرّة ، أزهار الشّرفة ، أقمار البيت المجاور

 ..الآن لديها رجل مقيّد إلى كعب حذائها بحبال الشّهوة

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Omama Zaier

Omama Zaier is a Tunisian poet. She was born in Sbeïtla in 1983. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Arabic language and literature. She is a founding member of Haraket Nas (Text Movement) and the Writers’ Guild of Tunisia. Her poems have been published in numerous Tunisian and Arabic literary magazines in print and online. She is the author of four poetry collections, The World is a Bundle of Imaginations (2013), Secret Passageways (2017), Eleven Exercises for the Judgment Day (2020), and No to Disturbing the Public Mood (2024).

Ali Znaidi

Ali Znaidi (b.1977) lives in Redeyef, Tunisia. He is the author of several chapbooks, including Experimental Ruminations (Fowlpox Press, 2012), Moon’s Cloth Embroidered with Poems (Origami Poems Project, 2012), Bye, Donna Summer! (Fowlpox Press, 2014), Taste of the Edge (Kind of a Hurricane Press, 2014), Mathemaku x5 (Spacecraft Press, 2015), Austere Lights (Locofo Chaps: an imprint of Moria Books, 2017), Gazes of Wrath (Mount Analogue Press, 2017), and Against Darkness (Pen & Anvil Press, 2018). His translations into English have appeared in The Lifted Brow, InTranslation: a web-exclusive section of The Brooklyn Rail, International Poetry Review, Lunch Ticket, Columbia Journal Online, Exchanges: Journal of Literary Translation, Long River Review, Barricade: A Journal of Antifascism & Translation, MAYDAY Magazine, and elsewhere. For more, visit aliznaidi.blogspot.com or follow him on X (formerly Twitter): @AliZnaidi.

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San Diego, California

Editor in Chief
Nilufar Karimi

Editorial Team
Bahar Abdi
Fiona Martinez
Julia Kott
K Jacobson
Kimaya Kulkarni
Barışcan Özkuzey
Reem Taşyakan
Camille Uglow
Vyxz Vasquez

Alchemy is committed to publishing fresh, engaging translations in a variety of genres and styles. We mainly accept work from students and emerging translators as we seek to promote the creativity and linguistic talent of the up-and-coming generation. We welcome traditional and non-traditional translations as well as experimental pieces.

We are based at University of California, San Diego, in both the Literature and Linguistics Departments. Our journal is edited and published entirely by UCSD students who like to think of translation as an alchemical process of transporting and transforming meaning.

 

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