Specimen Press has published two poems by Jalal al-Ahmadi in their originals and multiple translations:
Al-Ahmadi is a Yemeni poet who now lives in Germany.
The first poem, translated to “At Home” by Adam Talib,” opens:
Now I sit alone
around a circular table
Now I sit circularly
around myself
Now I sit, as empty as a table
Now I sit
Failing to understand
why my body smells of tobacco
and loss
While in the Croatian translation by Antonia de Castro, it opens:
Sjedim sada, sam
Za okruglim stolom
Sjedim sada,
Kružeći oko sebe.
Sjedim sada, kao stol za kojim nitko ne sjedi
Sjedim sada
Ne znam kako
Iz mene isparava miris duhana
I gubitaka
While in the Italian translation, by Raoul Villano, it opens:
Siedo, adesso, solo, a una tavola
rotonda. Siedo,
adesso, arrotolato su me stesso.
Siedo, adesso,
come una tavola
a cui nessuno siede.
Siedo, adesso,
non so come, ma emana,
dal mio corpo, un odore di tabacco
e di sconfitte.
The complete translations, as well as the poem in Arabic and translations of al-Ahmadi’s الغابة التي حدثت في غيابك, can all be found at Specimen Press.
