امرَأَةُ النِعْنَاعْ Woman of Mint

امرَأَةُ النِعْنَاعْ

 
 
تُجَرْجِرُ الشَّبَقَ مِنْ وَجَعِ الشَّوْكْ
تُوَشْوشُها.. تَمْلاُكَ وَقْتَاً مُشْمِسَاً
تَسُوقُ فِيْ حَاشِيَتِها شَذَا اللّحْظَةِ العَابِرةْ
تُمَسِّدُ أَلَقَهَا بِرَائِحَةِ رَبِيعْ
تَرْسمُ حُدُودَ الّلُهاثِ دَائِماً
لا يُرضِيها سِوى القُرّيصُ البَرِّيّْ
وَحْدَهُ يَرْصفُ نعُومَةَ الّلغَةِ بِشَوكِهْ
 
طَعْمُهُ يُرَطِّبُ حَلاوَةَ المَشْهَدْ
يَحْتَلُّ الجَسَدَ المَتْرُوكَ لِلبَياضْ
يَنتَزِعُ عِفَّةَ النِّعْناعَةِ بِخَشْخَشَةِ أَوْرَاقِهِ الجَبَلِيَّةْ
يَترُكُ نُدُوبَهُ فِيْهَا
شَوْكُهُ.. أَلَقُهُ المُتَلاحِقْ
يُوقِفُ مَجرَى التَّنَفّسِ وَقْتاً كَأَنَّهُ الأَبَدْ
 ثُمَّ يُدَغْدِغُ مِرفَقَ النِّعْنَاعَةِ بِوَخزَةٍ حَاسِمةْ
 

Woman of Mint

She hauls her desire from the anguish of thorns,
whispering: sunlight abides in you.
She is followed by the aroma of a fleeting moment
which she ignites with the perfume of Spring.
Not once does she gasp for breath.
Only wild nettle sates her desire:
his hair alone will make her easy.
 
His presence delights the scenery.
He populates vacancy.
He takes the pure mint with the force of his leaves,
scarring her deep inside.
His sting... his victory.
Her breath stopped, as if for eternity.
Then he tickles her elbow with his sting.
 

This is the first part of a sequence of four poems, the others being ‘Woman of Grapes’, ‘Woman of Coffee’ and ‘Woman of Almonds’. Like the other poems of Fatena’s we’ve translated, it’s very highly charged and erotic.

Poetry in English is filled with poems that use plants to articulate gender. By and large, it’s men poets who continually compare women to fragile, delicate flowers (think of Robert Herrick’s numerous poems – but see also Emily Dickinson’s celebration of the clover, ‘There is a Flower the Bees Prefer’. (For a discussion of the poetry of plants in relation to gender, see the Introduction to Flora Poetica: The Chatto Book of Botanical Verse, by Sarah Maguire).

It’s fascinating to witness a woman poet writing in Arabic using a ‘feminine’ mint plant and a ‘masculine’ nettle to express her feelings about gender.

The Woman of the Mint

She hauls her desire from the pain of thorns (play on words: ‘shawk' means thorns and ‘shawq' means longing).
She whispers... You are filled with a (sunny) time.
In her (entourage?) (follows?) the scent/perfume of a passing moment
She strokes (its) brightness/brilliance with the smell of Spring
She always limits (i.e. refrains from) gasping
No one satisfies her except wild nettle
It (or he) alone can soften her with its hairs.
 
Its taste moistens/softens the pleasantness of the scenery
It takes over/occupies the body abandoned to whiteness (i.e. emptiness. OR referring to a body untouched?)
It plucks (i.e. rapes) the purity of a mint leaf with the rustling of its mountainous leaves (i.e with its rustling).
It leaves its scars inside her
Its thorns...its victory.
It stops the flow of breath for a while, as if forever
Then it tickles the elbow of the mint leaf with a sharp sting.
 

Original Poem by

Fatena Al-Gharra

Translated by

Sara Vaghefian with Sarah Maguire Language

Arabic

Country

Palestine