[Sans titre]
POÉSIE
de Irina-Roxana Georgescu
La fenêtre est ouverte
les cris des enfants percent l’air
et dans cette distance, dans cette distance même,
de milliers et de milliers d’années
il y a toute une logique
il n’y a pas de coïncidences
(louer une vie /
voilà ta solution)
Puis, un regard recule.
// et des myriades de voix explosent dans ta tête
La lumière de chocolat d’un couteau couronne l’attente
trois fleurs peintes sur le ciel au-dessus de la ligne basse des champs
(Ce niveau est le plus élémentaire de la langue, celui où
l’apprenant est capable d’interactions simples)
(seulement les mouvements
fins de la main de cette femme
sur la page annoncent sa présence / c’est un être humain,
tu te dis,
et sa beauté lui appartient comme ses pensées, ses oublis, ses
attentes et ses révoltes)
Ici, le temps échappe à toute justification. Et toute attente
s’exerce derrière, comme si ce carrousel dans lequel on est captif
devient notre façon d’exister.
Je regarde autour de moi.
Ce lundi interminable
porte son poids avec la violence d’un scélérat
(je me sens brisée, déchirée – quel dommage, tu dis)
Et mes paniques se confondent avec les sons durs // presque métalliques // de la rue.
Cette rue, forte comme un mur, comme un char de combat qui
avance et recule /
partout les sons fusillés de cette rue
Ce qui ressemble le plus aux phases monotones d’un amour, ce
sont les rabâchages infatigables
Toujours lundi
Ici – en jardin ou ailleurs, dans la ville ou
chez moi le temps passe / ne te panique pas, tu me dis, mais mon
courage est mort //
Ici, on cherche à croiser les rues et les pas pour gagner du temps
Ici on oublie nos désirs pour calmer les esprits des autres
(en oubliant les nôtres,
en regagnant les attentes et les oublis des autres)
Ici – j’attends les heures passer // parce qu’ici on attend
seulement les heures
qui se mangent l’une l’autre
/ we’re waiting for tomorrow /
parce qu’on vit dans le creux de ce jour
(qui es-tu de me dire comment vivre?)
Parfois on vit dans l’air fort de nos rêves,
raréfié par chaque mot prononcé ailleurs
// des faux prophètes qui oublient leur race et la longueur de
leur voyage
et le poids de leur chair
Ecoute-moi bien, je ne répéterai pas
La vie continue chez nous comme ailleurs avec son pourcentage
habituel de misères et
de catastrophes.
Tu me suis?
[Untitled]
POETRY
by Irina-Roxana Georgescu
The window is open
the cries of the children pierce the air
and in this distance, even in this distance,
of millions and millions of years
there is a logic
there are no coincidences
(rent a life/
this is your solution)
Then, the look retreats.
// and myriads of voices explode in your head
The light of a smile crowns the waiting
three flowers painted on the sky above the low edge of the suburbs
(This level is the most elementary of the language, when
the one learning is capable of simple interactions)
(Only the fine
movements of this woman’s hand
on the page announce her presence / it is a human being,
you tell yourself,
and her beauty belongs to her like her thoughts, her oversights, her
waiting and her rebellion)
Here, time eludes all justification. And all waiting happens
behind, as if this carousel in which we are captive
became our reason to live.
I look around me.
This never-ending Monday
carries its weight with the violence of a criminal
(I feel broken, torn – what a pity, you say)
And my fears blend in with the sharp // almost metallic sounds // of the street.
This street, solid as a wall, like a battle tank that
advances and retreats /
everywhere the gunshot sounds of this street
What resembles to the most monotonous phases of a love affair
are the tireless repetitions
Still Monday
here – in the garden or elsewhere, in the city or
in my house time passes / do not panic, you say, but my
courage is dead //
Here, we try to cross streets and each other to save time
Here, we forget our desires to calm the spirits of others
(forgetting about ours,
regaining the waiting and forgetfulness of others)
Here, I am waiting for time to pass // because here we only wait
for the hours
that eat each other
/ we’re waiting for tomorrow /
because we live in the hollow of this day
(who are you to tell me how to live?)
At times, we live in the strong air of our dreams,
rarified by every mispronounced word
// false prophets who forget their course and the length
of their voyage
and the weight of their chair
Listen to me carefully, I will not say it again
Life carries on for us like before with its usual percentage
of misery and
upheavals.
Are you following?
(translated from the French by Clara Burghelea)
Irina-Roxana Georgescu got her PhD in Philology at the University of Bucharest, with a thesis on the influence of Western criticism on Romanian literary criticism. She has published poetry and literary studies in various magazines in Romania and abroad. Translations of her poems have previously appeared in Serbian, French, and Spanish. Georgescu’s books are Intervalle ouvert (Open Interval) and Une contre-histoire (A Counter-History), published in Paris by L’Harmattan in 2017 and 2022; Notiuni elementare (Elementary Notions), published in Bucharest by Cartea Românească in 2018; and Cartea lui Lucas (The Book of Lucas), published in Bistrița, Romania, by Charmides in 2024. The original version of this untitled poem, beginning with the line “La fenêtre est ouverte,” was first published in French in her collection Intervalle ouvert.
Clara Burghelea is the author of two poetry collections. The Flavor of the Other was published by Dos Madres Press in 2020, and Praise the Unburied by Chaffinch Press in 2021. The Clear Sky, her English translation of Ștefan Manasia’s Romanian poetry collection Cerul senin, was published by Dos Madres Press in 2025. Burghelea’s poems and translations have appeared in Gulf Coast Literary Journal, Delos, Mantis, The Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere. She is review editor of Ezra: An Online Journal of Translation.
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