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SUMMER 2015 SVPPLEMENT

Francophones d’Amérique (Francophones of America), Translated by Scott Marentette

By Marcel Fabien Raymond
For many spiritual vagabonds / for a multitude of intellectual fraudsters

from Marcel Fabien Raymond’s La jungle en folie. Poèmes 1989-1998 (MRF Éditeur, Montréal, 1997)

 

Francophones d’Amérique

Pour plusieurs vagabonds spirituels
pour une multitude de fraudeurs intellectuels
nous sommes comme une chiure de mouche
qui dérange la table des hôtes
de la communication nord-américaine
Dans la littérature
comme dans la vie
il faut séparer la sainte huile du venin
ici
le miracle francophone
est toujours mystérieux
et le mystère de leur incompréhension
est absolument miraculeux

 

Francophones of America

For many spiritual vagabonds
for a multitude of intellectual fraudsters
we are like a speck of fly shit
that upsets the table of the hosts
of North American communication
In literature
as in life
the holy oil from venom must be separated
here
the francophone miracle
is always mysterious
and the mystery of their incomprehension
is absolutely miraculous

 

Scott Marentette teaches literature, theory, culture, and writing at various universities and colleges in and around Toronto.

About the author

Marcel Fabien Raymond (1943–2012), born in Montreal, was a poet, essayist and painter, and founding member of UNEQ. From his early childhood he was interested in journalistic research. He was among other positions the director of a summer weekly called “Hello Beaulac.” In addition to publishing 17 titles and collaborating with numerous literary journals and periodicals, he also founded Éditions MFR in 1978.