Image by Nicolas Southon.

Extracts from Au Pieu by Selim-a Atallah Chettaoui (La Contre Allée, 2025). Translation from French by the author.

even without rights
it’s okay  
you have to do without
sometimes
no choice

*

no
choice

you
have
to
wait
in
line

while
time
goes
by

*

patiently wait
while
the smooth
and
clean and
pretty
people
contribute to GDP

*

tons of paper to prove the origin
blood right
soil right
book right

laugh out loud

seriously why
why doesn’t it exist
the right of people who read have read keep on reading
all the time
only want to keep reading
without messing with anyone

only damaging their myopic eyes
book after book
line after line
aligning the words
they are tender
the words
caressing the ear
pounding in the chest
awakening the chest

the dead body resuscitates

*

and if it falls
if it breaks
if it burns
if it sinks
get up stand up

fill the belly like you were taught in yoga class
fill the acrid lungs that decay day after day

and repeat from the top  

*

discover
while the time flies flees threads away like a fraying string
that it’s the same
you have to hold on
just hold on

that’s all there is to being grown up
holding on
not giving up
not giving oneself up
every day with your arms up
hardy like cypress
against the treacherous winds
‍