Long Hommes Poems

Translation of Eric Mottram’s Courbet: Elegy 8 by T. Wignesan

Blanches oeuvres ouvertes
résident dans les jours
la surface du banc de travail est noire
les géraniums-lierres
les fougères et les adragans
accumulent leurs oeuvres et jours:
La toile noire de Courbet
un...

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Claquée j’ai quitté mon lit douillé 
J’ai peur de sombrer dans ma tête souillée 
Dans mes rêves je suis toujours exilée 
Je n’ai jamais trouvé le sommeil espéré  
J’ai savouré le mal qui me...

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Les Protecteurs – Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s “The Protectors” by T. Wignesan

(Note: Oodgeroo never claimed to write poetry à la manière des poètes occidentaux; she said - without mincing words – her lines were sheer...

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Ne soyons pas rancunier – Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s “Let us not be bitter” by T. Wignesan

(Note : The fiery fearless rebel of Where we going (1964) and The Dawn is at Hand (1966) –...

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Le vieil identique problème – Translation of Kevin Gilbert’s « Same Old Problem » by T. Wignesan

(For Kevin Gilbert – cf. the introduction to Inside Black Australia (1988) – as quite obviously for Oodgeroo, too...

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Klacatoo – Translation of Kevin Gilbert ‘s « Klacatoo » by T. Wignesan

On nous avait coincé sur la rive de Lachlan
un endroit qui s’appelle Klacatoo
là où nous rassemblions au coucher du soleil
quand nous entendions le...

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Translation of Eric Mottram’s PEACE PROJECT 9 - le Projet de la paix 9 by T. Wignesan

…………………..Comme gel sous l’eau noire, sommeil fatale, crapaud.  
………..’Sade’ - Le Marteau sans Maître - (René) Char

la laideur...

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I can’t stop thinking,
That the earth is round, round
Like African women,
That the seagulls are white,
That dogs are crazy,
They bark at poets, writers,

I can’t stop thinking,
That the sun is a guitar
Who plays in the summer, in...

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Unquotable quotes: Outsiders and Odd Men – XXVIII

                 for Colin Wilson (1931-1913) 
      ...

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Translation of Eric Mottram’s A Faithful Private - 3 Dolores Huerta by T. Wignesan

3. Dolores Huerta

aucun coq n’y annonce la reveille:
les étudiants et les dirigeants des travailleurs 
font partie du piquet de grève contre les...

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Le Problème avec des Blancs – Translation of Jim Everett’s « The White Man Problem » by T. Wignesan

(Jim Everett, Mawbana Pleregannana, b. 1942 on Flinders Island, Tasmania, has had a chequered career and like...

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Daisy Bindi – Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s « Daisy Bindi » by T. Wignesan

L’esclavage à Roy Hill, quelle honte profonde misère:
Les noirs obligés à travailler sans paie l’année durant,
L’esclavagistes encouragés par la connivence policière
Avec la...

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Translation of Eric Mottram’s A Faithful Private 5 Homage to Humphrey Jennings by T. Wignesan

                    ...

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For those tortured souls who have inadvertently become an embodiment of life's most derisive and diminutive emotional degradation... 

Look no further! 

In teaching those 
whom you love above all, in this great life of ours......

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Only birds tell the truth,
They hear our little fears
And lay them in their nests,
They know when we cry
And tell all their friends, in heaven,

Only birds tell the truth,
Better than the great poets, 
Better than the...

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Qu'est-ce que nous sommes, sinon des larmes tombant dans les villes,
Tu es moi, et je suis toi, et ensemble nous pleurons,
Écrivant de la poésie au milieu de la nuit,
Fuyant la politique, les nouvelles et les...

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**********************************************




Bonsoir 
He had greeted the trader, for it was evening.
An unusual day it was, the sun still smiling
And shedding light on dark mother earth.

At 37 minutes après l'heure de 7.
In the market place 
Et les...

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Un appel – Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s « An Appeal » by T. Wignesan

Les hommes d’Etat qui ourdissent les lois de la nation
Munis du pouvoir pour contraindre ceux qui résistent,
Guidez nous réaliser le but de...

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63        The noises of Paris


There comes an age and wisdom,
When it is more interesting 
To listen to Shostakovich’s symphony number five,
Than to be interested in the noises of...

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I wonder now, 
If the life of an elephant is worth less than the life of a man,
Men are so vulgar, wicked and vicious,
Men are so inhuman, poor country,
Why shouldn’t an elephant be allowed to...

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A bon vivant lyfestyle 
of the Bohemians de Paris,
has always saddened and deluded me...
by seeing it in someone's happy smile.


Mademoiselles and jeunne hommes, 
exchanging artistic and poetical ideas
at the Cafe' de Flore, or at the...

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Mon amour – Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s « My Love » by T. Wignesan

Me posséder ? Non, je ne me permets pas
     L’amour que les autres connaissent,
Car j’ai épousé une cause:
...

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Men of cloth
Men of faith
Against all evils, lost hopes
Choose the light and will of the gods

They stay
Where all others flea
They reflect upon lost causes
Yet give of heart and sweat to the poor

They are not brave...

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64      I see the ocean

“I see the ocean”
Who can say that every morning?
Who can say “the boats are not gone.”
Even the sea knows my secrets,
“I’m tired of men”,  “I...

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“The number 34 is the magic constant of the 4 by 4 magic square shown on the engraving “Melencolia I“ by Albrecht Dürer. Wikipedia"

Oh, my room’s square melancholy!
Les femmes préfèr les hommes au Lee*.
My bed...

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