The Poet Laureate of Jones Street

Invisible men

men so familiar
you don’t see them on the corner.

Only the strange-quick-spicy sounds of their voices
reach you.

You shut them out
your arm raised for a cab.

A pickup truck slams on its brakes.
Their voices, louder now, chime into you.

For an instant
you see their faces.

2008

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……………….

Les hommes invisibles

des hommes si familiers
que tu ne les vois pas au coin de la rue.

Seul, le son de leurs voix étranges, vives et épicées
te parvient.

Tu les supprimes
un bras levé pour héler un taxi.

Une camionnette serre ses freins.
Leurs voix, plus fortes maintenant, t’interpellent.

Pendant un instant
tu peux voir leurs visages.

……………………..

2008
Traduction: Françoise Parouty
Publié: Comme en Poésie, 2009

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