To The Others, and: Growing Old

To The Others, and: Growing Old Raymond Queneau (bio) Translated by Patience Haggin (bio) Keywords poetry, Raymond Queneau, translation, Patience Haggin, nature, strife, dichotomies, poverty, oppression, aging, maturity, nostalgia Translated from French by Patience Haggin Since you honor these bones in a routthese bones smashed, smoldered, smothered in stonesthese bones stricken cold, drier than droughtsince we don't since you concede to the vermin depravedand devils, shot up from beneath the pondscrimson-masked, dancing on gravessince we don't since you accept vultures taking wingmurdering skies with their scrawny neckstasting sweet juice from mass graves bubblingsince we don't since you approve as our own teeth are rippedcollars clinching the prisoner's neckskicks to the ass and blows from the whipsince we don't since you accept rich and poorgood and evil, charity and forcethe king on his throne, the fool on his floorsince we don't since you cheer on the best and the worstbright-colored monkeys, dogs who sit up and begthe choo-choos, cheetahs, chipmunks, chihuawurstsince we don't End Page 186 since you tolerate the good mixed in with the stewthe wicked in hell, the gentle in prisonendless misfortunes, filthy ineptitudesince we don't since you say yes to the misery of men why do you then soak your bread in our soup why do you then drink up from our wine End Page 187 GROWING OLD My youth is overMy youth is goneI sit on my assforty years oldI've taken the virginityof maturityWatch me turn graywatch my belly inflatecough fritter awayby now by now by nowAh when I was a young manhow happy I was! likea lizard in the sunstudying my toestanning by the waterand rockefellerpitches his tentThe years count for littlethe days were lightthe nights so sweetThe sky so bluethe moons so round the snow was so mild the blondes were blondI had a silk tie the strong country calf the foot as good as the eye aye yes but now it's very very different I'm I'm at the end of the road yet I hurtle down slope dies irae dies illa sic ibo ad astra but like some fool falling down an elevator said to the audience watching on each floor "until now my faith was just fine I hope it stays this way" so despite my age wrinkles peeing belly lungs cough and a moral longing so little nostalgic for philosophy I grow old just trying to restWithout fire nor coal nor lard nor bacon nor eggs norfilms End Page 188 without weeskey nor soda nor butter nor tacksee nortea nor chocklit I write some poems as good I hope asones I scribbled back when I was twenty I still signedthem the same way q-u-e-n-e-a-u-g-u-r End Page 189 Raymond Queneau raymond queneau (1903–1976) co-founded experimental writers' group Oulipo, or the Ouvroir de littérature potentielle, dedicated to exploring new literary devices and forms through creative constraints and other challenges. Queneau's chief interest was the inventiveness of language. Known for experimenting with neologisms and unconventional spellings, Queneau encouraged poets and writers to use popular spoken language rather than French's obsolete formal conventions. His most famous works include Zazie dans le métro (Zazie in the Metro) and Exercices de Style (Exercises in Style). Patience Haggin patience haggin is a translator of French and Italian. Her work has been published by Dalkey Archive Press, Two Lines, Ezra, Circumference, Asymptote, and The Nassau Literary Review. She studied literary translation in Naples, Italy, on a Fulbright Scholarship. Copyright © 2024 The Massachusetts Review, Inc