Wednesday, March 1, 2017

BOUTHEINA BOUGHNIM LAARIF


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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