New Poetry in Translation: Sayed Abolela’s ‘Cinema’

This poem is from a forthcoming collection,  مصمم معارك, to be published by the General Egyptian Book Organization. Tomorrow, a discussion with Sayed Aboulela about his path as a colloquial poet.

CINEMA
(سيما)

By Sayed Abolela

Translated by the author

By chance—I walked into the film late.
And there, in the middle of the crowd,
my loneliness betrayed me.

Imprisoned by the seat—
and by their eyes—
the bars stretched
all the way to the screen.

Who should I root for?

Someone’s being killed,
someone’s rejoicing.
Someone’s in love,
someone’s weeping.

And I:
I’m searching for whoever fills the frame the longest
so I can anchor my life to theirs.

I ignore the victims of battles
ignore my need for a girl who hoards a deep sigh
until the right dramatic moment arrives
and dissolves this ridiculous wooden divider
between the seats.

I ignore my desperate need for a revolution
that humiliates the author
while he fails to notice,
delaying the intermission just a little longer
until I reach the climax—
so I can be the hero,
if only for a moment.

Any scene
could serve as the finale.

The anxious shaking of my leg
hastens the thing that’s bound to happen.
And I’m afraid to know what it is,
afraid to wait for it.

I pity the character who dies,
the knife forever stigmatized as
the killer passionately performs his role.

And loneliness: the sick wife I flee,
escaping to the cinema,
only for her to surprise me there,
pouring oil across my vision,
so that I hate every beginning.

سيما

Sayed Abolela is a poet, playwright, and investigative journalist based in Cairo. He has authored and directed fifteen theatrical productions on Egypt’s major national stages, including the National Theater, El-Taliea, and El-Hanager Arts Center. For three consecutive years, he collaborated with the Swiss Cultural Fund (Pro Helvetia) on contemporary theater projects. His first poetry collection, Jumbo: The Childhood of a Charlatan (جامبو.. طفولة دجال), was published by the General Egyptian Book Organization in 2019.