BOUTHEINA
BOUGHNIM LAARIF
TUNISIAN
I am multiple;
I belong to a
priceless Land
My roots are
struck into
The Mediterranean
depths.
My blood is hot as
its desert’s sand…
My forefathers are
the fearless Phoenician sailors
And the brave
Carthaginian warriors…
My forefathers are
Muslim Arabs and many others…
I am multiple.
I refuse to be
single;
Africa is my
cradle
Its colours are
wrought in a bundle
Around my neck,
wrists, sweet saddle!
CAPSULE
She thrust her
wish into
A star-shaped
capsule
Which she
swallowed
With a glass of
lemonade─
The oozing jasmine
scent
Made her feel
high;
Unseen fragrant
molecules
Floated in the
air,
Played with her
hair─
A tear dropped
from nowhere;
Perhaps a broken
promise,
A wish fallen from
the balance…
BLACK
The classroom was
full of students,
Sitting for the
exam. All looked roughly similar.
SHE stood out as
the only black one.
Her dark
complexion shone even more
As she wore a
fuchsia scarf!
The pen flowed
smoothly:
Geared by the
white-palmed black hand―
She came from the
Deep South,
The invigilator
learned from her exam sheet.
Her, too, she
thought, though white.
She knew colour is
but trivial and trite.
TENTACULAR
His thoughts are
tentacular:
Spinning around
his head a mellow mesh,
Keeping him from
the harsh and the granular.
His flagellated
imagination propels him,
Safe, into worlds
spectacular…
Matted trees,
unbolted doors―
Melted breeze
pouring like water…
Unbridled horses
he sets to endeavour
And the wild girl
he wished to encounter…
BOUTHEINA BOUGHNIM
LAARIF
Mrs BOUTHEINA BOUGHNIM LAARIF is undertaking a PhD
which proposes on a postmodern approach to W. H. Auden’s poetry and metrical
art (Faculty of Arts of Manouba, Tunisia).
She is a Lecturer of English literature. She has published articles
which focus on philosophical, aesthetic theories of poetic rhythm, Nietzsche’s
theory of the lyric, Heidegger’s philosophy of art and politics, among which
Rhythm Reconsidered: Philippe Lacoue Labarthe’s Musical Poetics of the Subject,
published in “Hearts and Minds” electronic journal (2014). She also has several
poems published in the online weekly poetry journal, Dystenium Journal and in
the quarterly poetry journal: The Cannon's Mouth and in two poetry anthologies.
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