Solio

Poetry that serves as an evocative portrayal of diverse landscapes and cultures. In these otherworldly poetry sequences, Samira Negrouche reminds us that all life is movement, where time passes through me / beings pass through me / they are me / I am them. The I is representative of one voice, three voices, all voices, all rooted in movement as their bodies brush past one another, brush against thresholds of time and space. Everything is in fluxincluding the dream-like landscapes at the borders of bordersas the poet seeks to recover parts of self and memory, on both a personal and universal level. In these poems, history-laden locales such as Algiers, Timbuktu, NDjamena, Cotonou, Zanzibar, Cape Town, and Gore are evoked. Even the language, expertly and sensitively translated by Nancy Naomi Carlson, refuses to be pinned down, as it loops back on itself. At times contradictory, at times fractured in meaning, syntax, and diction, the playful language is riddled with restless verbs. In the end, the I takes on prophetic overtones, instilling hope for the future.