What is this time?

What is this time
when a people no longer has a name
because it lives without a present
It penetrates the splinters of the explosion
A past, waking from a long nightmare, pursues it
It rolls its head before the feet of Mars
who rises out of the firmament of the North.

Abdelkader El Janabi

ABDEL KADER EL JANABI was born in Baghad in 1940. He left Iraq in 1971, and eventually settled in France. He has published poetry and essays, and translates between French and Arabic. In 1998 he published Éternité Volante, his translations of Ounsi el-Hage (Actes Sud), and in 1999, Le poème arabe moderne, his anthology of Arab poets.
He edits the poetry magazine Arapoetica. He is a contributing editor of Banipal.

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