Joyce Mansour (author) was born in England in 1928 to a Jewish family of Syrian descent who moved to Egypt when she was still an infant. Mansour was part of the inner circle of Surrealists, a close friend of André Breton, and the most significant poet to join the group after World War II. She wrote 16 books of poetry, as well as prose, works, and plays. She lived in Paris, France until her death in 1986 at age of 58.

Emilie Moorhouse (translator & co-editor) holds an MFA from the University of British Columbia. Raised in a French-speaking household in Toronto, Canada, she now lives in Montreal where she works as a teacher, writer, translator, and environmentalist.

Garrett Caples (editor) is a poet and an editor for City Lights Books, where he curates the Spotlight Poetry Series. He is also the co-editor of the Collected Poems of Philip Lamantia, editor of Preserving Fire: Selected Prose by Philip Lamantia, and author of the poetry collection Lovers of Today (2021). He lives in San Francisco, CA.

Table of Contents   

Translator’s Introduction   

Editorial Note   

Cris (1953) / Screams   

“Je te soulève dans mes bras” 

“I lift you in my arms” 

“L’amazone mangeait son dernier sein.” 

“The amazon was eating her last breast” 

“Chien bleu nez enfoncé dans la terre” 

“Blue dog whose nose is buried in the sand”  

“Je veux me montrer nue à tes yeux chantants.” 

“I want to be naked in your singing eyes.” 

“Ton enfant dans tes bras.” 

“Your child in your arms” 

“Fièvre ton sexe est un crabe” 

“Fever your sex is a crab” 

“Une femme créait le soleil” 

“A woman created the sun” 

“Couchée sur mon lit” 

“Lying on my bed” 

“J’ai un esprit inquiet.” 

“I have a worried mind”

“Combien d’amours ont fait crier ton lit?” 

“How many loves made your bed cry out?” 

“Coquillage qui traîne sur une plage déserte” 

“Seashell lying on an empty beach” 

“Que mes seins te provoquent” 

“May my breasts provoke you”   

Déchirures (1955) / Shreds   

“La mort est une marguerite qui dort” 

“Death is a daisy sleeping” 

“J’ai volé l’oiseau jaune” 

“I stole the yellow bird” 

“Invitez-moi à passer la nuit dans votre bouche” 

“Invite me to spend the night in your mouth” 

“Dans le monde sans verdure” 

“In a world without greenery” 

“Hurlements d’une montagne” 

“Shrieks from a mountain giving birth” 

“Je suis la nuit” 

“I am the night” 

“C’était hier:” 

“It was yesterday.” 

“La nappe rouge” 

“The red tablecloth” 

“Pleure petit homme” 

“Cry little man” 

“Danse avec moi petit violoncelle” 

“Dance with me, little cello” 

“La marée monte sous la pleine lune des aveugles.” 

“The tide is rising under the full moon of the blind.” 

“Je veux dormir avec toi coude à coude” 

“I want to sleep with you elbow to elbow” 

“L’orage tire une marge argentée” 

“The storm draws a silver line”   

poems from BIEF (1958–1960)   

Le Missel de la Miss (Bonnes Nuits) / The Missel of the Missus (Good Nights)      

i) Quelques Conseils En Courant Sur Quatre Roues      

i) Advice for Running on Four Wheels      

ii) Il Fait Foid? Une Robe S’impose      

ii) Cold Out? A Dress Is Essential      

iii) Lignes Autour D’un Cercle      

iii) Lines Around a Circle 

Genève 

Geneva

Conseils Pratiques en Attendant 

Practical Advice While You Wait 

Ce Qui Se Porte Cet Hiver 

What to Wear This Winter 

Ce Qui Ne Se Porte Pas Cet Hiver 

What Not to Wear This Winter 

Conseils d’une Consœur 

Advice from a Sister     

Rapaces (1960) / Birds of Prey   

Rhabdomancie  

Dowsing 

Chant Arabe

Arab Song   

Carré Blanc (1965) / White Square   

I : “Où le Bas Blesse” / I: Where the Shoe Hurts 

Dans L’obscurité A Gauche 

In the Dark to the Left 

Leger Comme Une Navette Le Désir 

Light as a Shuttle Desire 

L’appel Amer d’un Sanglot 

The Bitter Call of Tears 

Dans Le Sillage Du Mont-Arbois 

In the Wake of Mont-Arbois 

Nuit De Veille Dans Une Cellule En Cristal De Roche 

Sleepless Nights in a Cell of Rock Crystal 

Le Soleil Dans Le Capricorne 

Sun in Capricorn   

II : “L’Heure Erogene” / II: “The Erogenous Hour” 

Fleurie Comme La Luxure 

Flowered Like Lewdness 

Séance Tenante 

Right Away 

Papier D’argent 

Tin Foil 

L’Amoureuse Guerriere 

Woman Warrior in Love 

Souvenir Impose par le Nord au Sud Vaincu 

Memories Imposed by the North on a Conquered South 

Sous la Tour Centrale 

Under the Central Tower   

III : “Verres Fumés” / III: “Smoked Glasses” 

L’Heure Velue 

The Hairy Hour 

La Piste du Brouillard 

The Path of Fog 

La Facade de l’Obsession 

The Face of Obsession 

Heureux les Étourdis 

Happy Are the Stunned 

Des Myriads d’Autres Morts 

A Myriad of More Deaths 

Sonne n’Écoute Personne n’Écoute Per 

One Listen to No One Listen to No     

Les Damnations (1967) / Damnations   

Au-Dela de la House 

Beyond the Swell 

Minuit à Perte de Vue 

Endlessly Midnight   

Pandémonium (1976) / Pandemonium   

Jasmin d’Hiver (1982) / Winter Jasmine   

Flammes Immobiles (1985) / Still Flames   

“Ne jamais dire son rêve” 

“Never share your dream” 

“Les eaux de ce pays-là ne s’écoulent jamais” 

“The waters of that country never flow” 

“Brûler l’encense dans la quiétude” 

“To burn incense in the quiet of a room”   

Trous Noirs (1986) / Black Holes      

"Emerald Wounds: Selected Poems by Joyce Mansour is a compact yet career-spanning, bilingual anthology of this incendiary poet. With a biographical introduction by translator Emilie Moorhouse, who was drawn to Mansour's tough, take-no-prisoners stance during the societal reckoning of the #MeToo movement, Emerald Wounds showcases the entire arc of her trajectory as a poet, from the at-once gothic and minimalist fragments of her first collection in 1953, Screams, to the serpentine power of her final poems of the 1980s. Juxtaposing the original French poems with their English translations, Mansour's voice surges forward uncensored and raw, communicating the frustrations, anger, and sadness of an intelligent, worldly woman who defies the constraints and oppression of a male-dominated society that sees women as superficial objects of desire rather than multidimensional, autonomous subjects."--