{"id":12926,"date":"2025-07-04T13:39:48","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T12:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=12926"},"modified":"2025-12-20T13:15:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T12:15:45","slug":"rue-garenne-trans-ruth-ward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=12926","title":{"rendered":"Rue Garenne (trans. Ruth Ward)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
Image: \u00a9 Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries<\/span><\/p>\n

There’s this woman as eccentric as Christ
walking on water. She writes poems\u00a0
on her painted toes,
which will never touch the ground because she slips them\u00a0\u00a0
into platforms high as half her head, or higher.\u00a0
Grey pigeon feathers decorate her hair\u00a0\u00a0
along with leaves of fresh mint and laurel.
And each night she leans out her window singing \u2014\u00a0
always the same sad song about a young man
who went fishing one day and never returned \u2014 he drowned.
Then the torrents begin at the first sign of dawn\u00a0
until the blue painted under her eyes
trickles down her cheeks and past her chin,
dripping on her bosom where a pistol hides.
So that one day ….\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is the poem she wrote last night\u00a0
when she saw me walking
opposite her house in Rue Garenne:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Don’t walk under my window again<\/em>
for I’ll mistake you for someone else. And I’ll ask you up<\/em>
and show you the love I have for the clouds over my bed.<\/em>
My bed is a book full of nothing but typos.<\/em>
When I read through it I don’t know if I should laugh or cry.\u00a0<\/em>
And <\/em>while you’re here I’ll let you look into my eyes.\u00a0<\/em>
I’ll lift my skirt so you can see for yourself<\/em>
the main road leading to death.<\/em>
But don’t think for a moment that afterwards you’ll leave … or want to get out.<\/em>
For your eyes will crack the moment they meet mine,<\/em>
then\u00a0they\u2019ll shatter as soon as they see the rest.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

One day I’ll pass by again.
I’ll get her a bunch of roses, and attach them
to the dark clouds that are hanging over her chamber.
I’ll kiss her cheeks, and then I’ll tell her:
If you want, turn back your sheets;\u00a0<\/em>
I’d like to\u00a0lie on your bed.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cRue Garenne\u201d was first published in the Maltese by Klabb Kotba Maltin (St. Venera, Malta) in the 2016\u00a0poetry volume\u00a0<\/em>\u0126uta<\/em>\u00a0(<\/em>Fish<\/em>).<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

____<\/em><\/p>\n

Immanuel Mifsud<\/strong>\u00a0is a six\u2011time national award-winning author, playwright, and visual artist. A European Union Prize for Literature recipient and winner of an English PEN award, his works have been translated into 17 languages. His memoir,\u00a0In the Name of the Father (And of the Son), has been published in the U.K. by Parthian Books (Wales) and in France by Gallimard, as well as in other countries. Two volumes of Mifsud\u2019s poetry have been published in the U.K.: Confidential Reports\u00a0by Southword Editions (Ireland) and\u00a0The Play of Waves\u00a0by Arc Publications (England). Professor Mifsud lectures at the University of Malta.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ruth Ward<\/strong>\u00a0is a writer and translator of poetry and fiction whose works have been published in literary journals and anthologies, and as part of artistic collaborations spanning Europe, Asia, and North America. Her translations have been read at the U.S. Library of Congress and the European Union Delegation in the U.S. and have been broadcast on the BBC.\u00a0V\u00e1h, a bilingual collaboration of text and visuals was published in 2024 by Klabb Kotba Maltin (Malta).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image: \u00a9 Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries There’s this woman as eccentric as Christ walking on water. She writes poems\u00a0on her painted toes, which will never touch the ground because she slips them\u00a0\u00a0into platforms high as half her head, or higher.\u00a0Grey pigeon feathers decorate her hair\u00a0\u00a0along with leaves of fresh mint and laurel. And each […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":241,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[432,433],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nRue Garenne (trans. 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