Djami
__________________
Djami
Ahmed Yacoubi
A Life Full of Holes
The Other
Djami
Too Late
Two Serious Ladies
______________________
Djami
“The desert is
pure space”
—Michel Tournier
Loutte d’or
this photo of djami—
miraculously survives
gets handed down to
us many years later
no simulacrum—
nothing’s left to simulate
his life has been lived
and so has arthur rimbaud
photo of djami—
tangled curls, smile
not a culture of “because”
rather one of “and then”
Ahmed Yacoubi
“we have a
colonized unconscious”
—a young Moroccan
what happened—
to ahmed the boy
in the photo living
with paul bowles?
what happened—
to djami the boy
in the photo living
with arthur rimbaud?
who knows?—
what’s happened to
all the djami’s and
yacoubi’s in the desert?
invisible boyz—
young men of the
desert who european
men fell in love with?
A Life Full of Holes
“might as well have
been invisible, like
a snake hidden
in the bushes”
—Paul Bowles
The Spider’s House
everything is—
full of holes, all of
it unbecoming itself
all of it too late
copies of “season—
in hell,” down in the
printer’s basement,
verlaine’s in prison
poet maudit—
in north africa with
his life full of holes
doing quite nicely
The Other
“this double-faciality,
this Janus-headed
dream-character”
—Paul Bowles
wishing on one hand—
and running away from
reality on the other,
a line of death
i felt myself—
imitating with words
and my words becoming
my lover on the page
my family str8t—
my brother & 2 sisters
how could they understand
djami and the other?
Djami
“A young boy
(Abdelkader)
smiling”
—Roland Barthes
Incidents
rimbaud publishes—
seasons, then later
verlaine & nouveau
publish illumination
he gives up writing—
poetry for travelogue
bon vivant trader
with djami lover
he becomes other—
a trader, a gun-runner
invisible spectator
djami his guide
Too Late
“Everything
is too late”
—Paul Bowles
everything’s late—
much too late, my dears
i’m unbecoming myself
changing into my other
closet doors creak—
and shriek, it’s much
too late for just about
anything else
come steel lizards—
pounce on me while
there’s still some time,
it’s getting late
Two Serious Ladies
“I felt cut-off
from what I knew”
—Jane Bowles
both were rather—
serious ladies but
they stammered
through it
stammering—
not with speech and
one’s tongue, but
rather with writing
stammer that way—
like gertrude stein
did for herself and
you might get famous
__________________
Djami
Ahmed Yacoubi
A Life Full of Holes
The Other
Djami
Too Late
Two Serious Ladies
______________________
Djami
“The desert is
pure space”
—Michel Tournier
Loutte d’or
this photo of djami—
miraculously survives
gets handed down to
us many years later
no simulacrum—
nothing’s left to simulate
his life has been lived
and so has arthur rimbaud
photo of djami—
tangled curls, smile
not a culture of “because”
rather one of “and then”
Ahmed Yacoubi
“we have a
colonized unconscious”
—a young Moroccan
what happened—
to ahmed the boy
in the photo living
with paul bowles?
what happened—
to djami the boy
in the photo living
with arthur rimbaud?
who knows?—
what’s happened to
all the djami’s and
yacoubi’s in the desert?
invisible boyz—
young men of the
desert who european
men fell in love with?
A Life Full of Holes
“might as well have
been invisible, like
a snake hidden
in the bushes”
—Paul Bowles
The Spider’s House
everything is—
full of holes, all of
it unbecoming itself
all of it too late
copies of “season—
in hell,” down in the
printer’s basement,
verlaine’s in prison
poet maudit—
in north africa with
his life full of holes
doing quite nicely
The Other
“this double-faciality,
this Janus-headed
dream-character”
—Paul Bowles
wishing on one hand—
and running away from
reality on the other,
a line of death
i felt myself—
imitating with words
and my words becoming
my lover on the page
my family str8t—
my brother & 2 sisters
how could they understand
djami and the other?
Djami
“A young boy
(Abdelkader)
smiling”
—Roland Barthes
Incidents
rimbaud publishes—
seasons, then later
verlaine & nouveau
publish illumination
he gives up writing—
poetry for travelogue
bon vivant trader
with djami lover
he becomes other—
a trader, a gun-runner
invisible spectator
djami his guide
Too Late
“Everything
is too late”
—Paul Bowles
everything’s late—
much too late, my dears
i’m unbecoming myself
changing into my other
closet doors creak—
and shriek, it’s much
too late for just about
anything else
come steel lizards—
pounce on me while
there’s still some time,
it’s getting late
Two Serious Ladies
“I felt cut-off
from what I knew”
—Jane Bowles
both were rather—
serious ladies but
they stammered
through it
stammering—
not with speech and
one’s tongue, but
rather with writing
stammer that way—
like gertrude stein
did for herself and
you might get famous
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