FIFA World Cup Photos & Faces

UPDATE: France wins the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, defeating Croatia 4-2 on an own goal by Croatia's Mario Mandzukic (18') , a penalty kick by Antonine Griezmann (38'), and two beautiful goals by Paul Pogba (59') and Kylian Mbappé (65'). Croatia's goals were by Ivan Perisic (28') and Mandzukic (69'), who leapt on a major snafu by France's goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Croatia dominated the game from start to finish, but France pounced on several chances it got, ensuring itself a championship and giving fans a glimpse of the immense talent the team possessed this year, and will have for a few more World Cups to come.

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In past years I've provided some imagery to illustrate the World Cup and other major sports competitions (rugby!), so here are a few more photos from the matches. Enjoy!

Dylan Bronn (TUN) trapping the
ball while facing Dele Alli (ENG),
Group G match, Volgograd, June 18, 2018
(Ryan Pierse/Getty Images Europe)

England's players (Lingard, Maguire, Sterling,
Alli, Trippier, Kane) walk out for second half
vs. Sweden, July 7, 2018, in Samara
(Alex Morton/Getty Images Europe)

Midfield Kylian Mbappé before France's
game with Uruguay, July 6, 2018
(Getty Images)

Samuel Umtiti (FRA) battling Paolo Guerrero (PER)
for the ball, June 21, 2018
(Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images Europe)

Nacer Chadli (BEL) tries to control the ball
while facing off against Gabriel Jesus (BRA),
July 6, 2018, in Kazan (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images Europe)

Brazilian players showing dejection after Belgium
goes up 1-0 off Fernandinho's own goal
(l-r Gabriel Jesus, Alisson, Thiago Silva, Fernandinho,
Marcelo, Miranda, Paulinho, Willian), July 6, 2018,
Kazan (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images Europe)

Nigeria's Bryan Idowu, John Obi Mikel and
Oghenekaro Etebo rush to protect the goal
against Argentinian supestar Lionel Messi
in Nigeria's Group D match against Argentina
in Saint Petersburg, June 26, 2018
(Francois Nel/Getty World Images)

Philippe Coutinho (BRA), on the right, races
to keep Romelu Lukaku (BEL) from controlling
the ball, July 6, 2018, in Kazan
(Catherine Ivill/Getty Images Europe) 

Belgian star Romelu Lukaku embraces French former
World Cup champion player and superstar Thierry
Henry, Belgium's assistant coach, after defeating
Brazil in Kazan, July 6, 2018
(Catherine Ivill/Getty Images Europe)

Bryan Idowu (left) and Alex Iwobi (middle) of Nigeria
try to keep Croatia's Luka Modric from reaching the ball
in the Group D match between Nigeria and Croatia,
Kaliningrad, June 16, 2018 (Francois Nel/Getty Images Europe)

Hector Herrara, Jonathan Dos Santos and Hirving Lozano
after their loss to Brazil, July 2, 2018, Samara
(Matthias Hangston/Getty Images Europe)

Cristiano Ronaldo reacting during Portugal's match
against Uruguay, June 30, 2018, in Sochi
(Julian Finney/Getty Images Europe)

2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia

UPDATE 2: France wins the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, defeating Croatia 4-2 on an own goal by Croatia's Mario Mandzukic (18') , a penalty kick by Antonine Griezmann (38'), and two beautiful goals by Paul Pogba (59') and Kylian Mbappé (65'). Croatia's goals were by Ivan Perisic (28') and Mandzukic (69'), who leapt on a major snafu by France's goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Croatia dominated the game from start to finish, but France pounced on several chances it got, ensuring itself a championship and giving fans a glimpse of the immense talent the team possessed this year, and will have for a few more World Cups to come.

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UPDATE: England won their match against Sweden 2-0, so the quarterfinals are nearly set: France against Belgium, and England vs. Croatia, which went down to the wire, i.e., penalty kicks, against the wily Russian team!

France's Kylian Mbappé (right) controls the ball
against pressure from Uruguay's Lucas Torreira
(AFP)

As we near the end of the first week of July, the major tournament, the 2018 version of the FIFA World Cup, for the world's reputedly most popular sport, soccer--or (association) football outside the US--also approaches its end. Taking place across the vast nation of Russia, it has been a smoothly run and mostly scandal-free set of matches thus far, beginning with the opening group games that pitted 4 teams each against each other to decide who would advance to the knockout round. Although there were questions about Russia's efforts to secure the World Cup, much akin to previous financial controversies that have plagued FIFA, this World Cup has run perhaps more smoothly than the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, which seemed to be in danger of featuring unfinished venues and the target of potential attacks right up to the moment when they went off without a hitch, or the 2014 edition in Brazil, which unfolded as the country was entering a several economic crisis.

Antoine Griezmann & Kylian Mbappé of France
(TASS via Getty Images)

For the first time in several World Cup meetings, the United States did not qualify, but neither did a few of the world's perennial soccer powers, including 4-time (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006) prior winner Italy, nor Chile or the Netherlands. FIFA's ranking tables included most of the entrants numerically, in descending order (skipping the teams that did not make it): Germany (1), Brazil (2), Belgium (3), Portugal (4), Argentina (5), Switzerland (6), France (7), Poland (8), Spain (10), Peru (11), Denmark (12), England (12), Uruguay (14), Mexico (15), Colombia (16), Croatia (20), Tunisia (21), Iceland (22), Costa Rica (23), Sweden (24), Senegal (27), Venezuela (33), Serbia (34), Australia (36), Iran (37), Morocco (41), Egypt (45), Nigeria (48), Panama (55), South Korea (57), Japan (61), Saudi Arabia (67), and host Russia (70). Fortunately for fans--well, soccer fans in general--the rankings often correlate to teams' presence in the World Cup, which they achieve by winning regional association matches, but they do not guarantee success at the World Cup.

A distraught Neymar Jr.,
after Brazil's loss to Belgium
(AFP/Getty Images)

In the first round matches, this World Cup provided a few shockers. First, in Group F, South Korea's and Mexico's victories over Germany knocked the top ranked team and the 2014 World Cup victor out of the tournament; other top ranked teams that failed to advance included Costa Rica, Peru, and Poland. First time participant Panama also was sent off the pitch, as were the scrappy footballers from Iceland, who became fan favorites in part because of the tiny size of their country compared to many of the other competitors, and the Super Eagles of Nigeria, who carried the hopes of their country and much of sub-Saharan Africa on their shoulders, but only finished with three points, or one win and two losses. (What was not known was that Nigeria's captain, Jon Mikel Obi, was playing the Argentina match while keeping silent about the fact that his father had been kidnapped in Nigeria and ransomed for $28,000; his father, thankfully, was released several days later.) On the other hand, standout teams were Uruguay, Croatia, and Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, and France all advanced to the knockout round, as did host Russia, which was in the weakest group, A, yet played quite well, amassing 8 goals, the second-most of the round, tying it with England, and playing with forceful enthusiasm. Both Spain and Portugal showed signs of vulnerability, yet both also went onwards to the round of 16. Argentina, with its superstar Lionel Messi, barely did so after tying Iceland, losing 3-0 to Croatia, and slipping past Nigeria 2-1.

Belgium's Kompany (in air at right),
heads the ball which ricochets off
Brazil's Fernandinho (17), for an own goal
(Frank Augstein/Associated Press)

The second round proved to offer more shockers; France dispatched Argentina 4-3 on two decisive goals by its 19-year-old shining light Kylian Mbappé, thus sending the Albiceste back to Buenos Aires,  perhaps concluding Messi's World Cup career. Uruguay beat Portugal, perhaps closing out the career of the Portuguese Selecção's world famous Cristiano Ronaldo. Belgium played a lethargic match against Japan, which shone for nearly the entire time, yet the Diables Rouges came back to send the better team packing with a stoppage time winner and 3-2 score. Mexico, another fan favorite, lost to Brazil 2-0, and up through this game, the Brazilians displayed their trademark jogo bonito, showing brilliance at times in their passing and footwork, though they did not seem to be as eager to score as some of their opponents. Another huge surprise with the large number--three--games decided by penalty kicks, which aided the lower-ranked Russia to knock off Spain 4-3 in PKs, which sent shockwaves through the stadium. England triumphed over Colombia 4-3 in PKs after its goalie's heroics, and Croatia, the tournament's sleeper team, defeated Denmark 3-2 in PKs after 1-1 score.

Colombia's Yerry Mina (13) celebrating with
teammate Dávinson Sánchez (23) after scoring
against Poland (Thanassis Stavrakis/AP)

We are now in the quarterfinals, and so far, France and Belgium are giving every sign of providing the side of the draw that will produce in the eventual victor. In France's case, in addition to Mbappé, its veteran goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has been stellar, and shut down an evenly matched Uruguayan team to preserve the 2-0 victory achieved by defender Raphaël Varane heading the ball in (on a beautiful pass by forward Antoine Griezmann) and by Griezmann on a pass by forward Corelin Tolisso. So evenly matched were the teams that both France and Uruguay took 11 shots, with 2 of les Blues on target vs. 4 from the Uruguayan side; each team had nearly the same number of fouls (17 for Uruguay, 15 for France); and each received 2 yellow cards. The difference was France's control of the ball, at 62% of the match, and the skill of its defense (Lucas Hernández, Samuel Umtiti, Varane, and Benjamin Pavard) in shutting down Uruguay's threats, while maximizing its few opportunities. Mbappé, Griezmann, Varane, Tolisso, and the rest of the French team constitute one of the best squads the country has fielded since its World Cup victory in 1998, and if they get past Belgium, they could and should win it all.

South Korean players (in red) in shock after defeating
Germany (in green) (Dylan Martinez/Reuters)

While Belgium played without brio against Japan, it came out in full force against Brazil, whose star, Neymar Jr., had begun to spur memes because of all of his histrionic diving and flopping around, though he was legitimately being pushed around during Brazil's opening match against Switzerland. The referees seemed to be averse to calling any penalties against Belgium whenever Neymar and his teammates ended up crumpled on the field, so Brazil would have to recalibrate and deploy its dazzling skill work to manufacture goals. Unfortunately, despite putting on a clinic in the first half, the Brazilian team could not seem to convert chances, and found itself down 2-0 on an own goal by defense Fernandinho, one of the goats of the 2014 tournament, offer a header by Belgian star Vincent Kompany, and a stunner by Kevin De Bruyne that Romelu Lukaku had set up. Brazil led in shots, 27-9, shots on target 9-3, in possession 59%-41%, and in corners 8-4, yet repeatedly failed to follow up on loose balls or potential scoring opportunities. Renato Augusto finally did score in the 76th minute on a pass from Philippe Coutinho, but it was too little, too late, and now the objectively best remaining team heads home. For its part, Belgium stretched Brazil's defense wide open enough on quick runs up field to create the opportunities that gave it the 2-0 lead, and looks to be a danger in the France game and if it heads to the finals. Brazil's exit was not as shameful as 2014, but once again, despite its impressive talent, the Seleção seemed less interested in winning than in putting on a show. The two, I hope someone reminds Brazil, are more than compatible and what many a soccer most wants to see.

Nigeria celebrate after scoring a penalty
kick against Argentina (Reuters)

The remaining match-ups, on the weaker side of the draw, are intriguing: both England and Sweden have played above their rankings,  but the Three Lions' squad has the edge in talent and defense, with the x-factor striker Harry Kane, who has been the team's standout player and converted a number of opportunities so far. It also has some of the better younger players in the tournament, chief among them midfielder Dele Alli, defender Harry Maguire and goalie Jordan Pickford. If England can stay on the attack and open up Sweden's defense, the game is theirs. Russia's host nation fairy-tale effect has taken it quite far (cf. the US, South Korea, France, etc. in past tournaments), but Croatia has shown itself to be of the best teams in the tournament and will put the home field Sbornaya to the test. The Blazers have played unflappably so far. Russia's play has been a bit heavy-handed, so one question will be whether the referees decide to call fouls and dole out yellow cards--or in some cases, red cards that should have come but remain in pocket--which they've seemed reluctant to, which could work in Russia's favor in knocking Croatia's scorers off their game. I should add that given the tensions now besetting the Russian-US relationship, and all of the mounting evidence in the alleged Trump-Russia criminal conspiracy, Croatia has my support in this match-up.

Brazil's players stretch Danilo during a training
session on July 3, 2018 (Andre Penner/AP)

A few final points I want to make are that at a time of increasing ethnonationalism across Europe and the US, as well as across the globe, it has been encouraging to witness once against the more racially and ethnically diverse "national" squads perform with aplomb, belying the discourse, promulgated by far-right and anti-immigration parties like the British National Party, Alliance for Germany, National Front, League of the North, etc., that cross-racial and ethnic diversity are a bad thing, that unity and cooperation, even temporary, is not possible and that their their teams are somehow weakened by "impurity." Former colonial and imperial powers France, Belgium and England (UK) would not be where there are in this tournament without their Black, Arab, and mixed-race players. There have been articles about the anger anti-immigration and white nationalist soccer fans have felt about the mixed-race cast of their teams, so it has been especially satisfying to see those teams--save Germany, which crashed out early--kick and shoot their way to the trophy. These teams' successes may be mostly symbolic, and does little to dismantle the underlying structures and systems that enable racism and white supremacy, nor do they provide any answers to the economic and political crises fueling the international migration flows, yet they do represent a publicly visible and global counterweight to the illiberal discourse that is increasingly sweeping across the West and other parts of the globe.

A victorious Belgium celebrate their
defeat of Brazil (AFP)

A second point is that the US, when it reappears in the World Cup, will have to overcome a considerable gulf in terms of coaching, development and skill levels to be competitive. This year's top teams, most European other than Brazil, have played with a sharpness I don't see the US yet able to achieve, but given the depth of US soccer talent, with the right coaching staff and the best players, the US could conceivably go as far as it dreams. The same is true for the African squads, and, as Japan displayed, Asia's best teams too, but between national developmental programs and the European leagues, European teams still have the advantage for the time being.

Poem: Adriano Spatola

Adriano Spatola

Georges Seurat's (1859-1891) 1884-86 painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," or "Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte," which now hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago, may be one of the most famous and recognizable works of French art from the late 19th century Neo-Impressionist movement, and a master-work of pointillist painting. A series of carefully placed dots that in combination depict an afternoon world of (mostly) bourgeois leisure on a Seine riverbank. The picture indexes a social world, rewarding repeated viewings, even in reproduction, and provoking a range of possible interpretations.

These everyday, fin de siècle characters are in shade because of the sun, but might Seurat not be implying more? What is the little girl in white, staring directly at the viewer, saying through her steady child's gaze? There are sailboats and rowers, but also a woman fishing; how common was this, and who is she? Is this for sport or sustenance, or both? Why does the one woman with the immense bustle hold the leash to a pet...monkey? Off scene, across the river, lay the working-class suburb of Asnières-sur-Seine, which Seurat, as well as many other important 19th century French painters, including Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet, also depicted. Lastly, there is the famous border, which inverts the colors of the painting, as if to underline the idea that another world or worlds lay just at the borders of this one.

Seurat's painting is a flash impression containing a vibrant narrative; the colors, in Impressionist fashion, pulse before our eyes. This informs the approach that Italian poet Adriano Spatola (1941-1988), known for his linguistic experimentation that often uses fragments and run-on syntax, employs in his tribute, translated by poet Paul Vangelisti, to Seurat's painting. Spatola also taps into the darker veins of the scene Seurat painting; supposedly it was a spot where middle class men could, amidst the bathing, rowing and picknicking, meet prostitutes, and that shadowy boundary between the visibly respectable and the invisible desire and vice lurking in the interstices of social relations appears in Spatola's poem in words such as "tricked out," "penance," "shadow," and "anger," among others. He records the social and emotional tenor of the scene more so than what it is overtly depicting: as poetry often can do, he holds up a lyric stethoscope to the image, and shares what he hears.

It is a beautiful image that even spurred a musical--Stephen Sondheim and James Lepine's famous 1984 musical Sunday in the Park with George--as well as numerous recreations and parodies, but also repays viewing. I did have the pleasure several times of viewing it up close, and urge visitors to Chicago first to go to the Art Institute of Chicago, one of the nation's best, but above all to spend even a little time with Seurat's painting, one of its treasures. And now, Spatola's poem:

SUNDAY AFTERNOON ON THE ISLAND
OF GRANDE JATTE (1884-85), Georges Seurat



by Adriano Spatola



The wonder the sense of lacquered objects
bolted measured tricked out in the clock
generous happy mature penance shadow
that the sun disbanded sews on the leaves
trousers hair parasols and gowns and gloves
anger drowns sighing the groan resounds
against the decorated and blank wall against the scale
unraveled dry whirlpool enameled Gongorism
congenital with thirst with gloomy astonishment
or wonder or the sense of lacquered objects.

Adriana Spatola, from The Position of Things: Collected Poems 1961-1992, translated by Paul Vangelisti. Copyright © 2008 by Adriano Spatola and Paul Vangelisti. Used by permission of Green Integer Press.

And here is the painting:

George Seurat, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, oil on canvas, 1884-1886, © Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Azzedine Alaïa: "Joe's Film"

Alaïa at work, from Joe's Film 

Back in March, stylist Joe McKenna posted a beautiful little documentary, "Joe's Film," about the designer--design artist--Azzedine Alaïa, who passed away last week on November 18 at the age of 77. I saw it mentioned on New York Magazine, watched it in and rewatched it, telling myself I'd make a note to repost it on the blog. The reposting got lost in the midst of everything else, but I am posting it below as a way of remembering Alaïa.

A native of Tunisia and the child of farmers, he had lived in Paris for most of his adult life, and began to make his name after opening his atelier in the late 1970s. After launching his first ready to wear collection in the 1980s, his reputation gained steam, and by the early 1990s he was considered one of the most inventive and distinctive designers of his generation, and had dressed many of the world's most famous and glamorous women, including former US First Lady Michelle Obama, singer and former French First Lady Carla Bruni Sarkozy, supermodels like Naomi Campbell, Veronica Webb and Linda Evangelista, actresses like Zoe Saldana and Charlize Theron, musical artists like Tina Turner, Grace Jones, Lady Gaga, and Rihanna, and many others.

One of Alaïa's elaborate skirts,
from Joe's Film

His relationship with the fashion world was complicated, however; at one point, mourning his late sister, he vanished for a while, and then returned to the spotlight in the early 2000s, only to cease regular runways shows over the last decade. He also held fast to his vision of a particular kind of high fashion, forgoing the money-driven branding approach that has become the norm today. As McKenna's film shows, he was designing up till the end, and the beauty of his work had lost nothing to the years.

Enjoy this little gem, and many thanks to Joe McKenna for making and sharing it.

Joe's Film from Julie Walsh on Vimeo.

Translation: Poems: Sunjata

Last summer, one of the books I picked up while in France at the James Baldwin: International Traveler conference in Montpellier was Sunjata's Sabir: Slam Poésie, published by Vents d'ailleurs in La Roque-D'Anthéron in 2014. The publisher's name means Winds from elsewhere, and the town, which I had to look up, is a "commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France," according to its Wikipedia page, not far to the east of Montpellier. I knew nothing about the writer, but his name, invoking the great king and founder of the Empire of Mali, and the book's title, with the first word translated as "mumbo jumbo," followed by the appellation "slam poetry," caught my attention, so I picked it up. Searching online, I found another book by Sunjata, Kalachnikov Blues, a 2009 detective novel issued by the same publisher.

Sunjata, it turns out, is the pen name of Soumaïla Koly, a writer, musician, filmmaker, producer, and actor of Ivorian descent born in 1971 in Paris. His education in theater began in the troupe Kotéba d'Abidjan, with whom he began acting while still a child, and he later studied at the Université Paul-Valéry de Montpellier and Louis Lumière in Paris. Sunjata has released three hip hop CDs, two solo with the music company Blaxploitation, and one with the group Liste noir (Black List) from Artikal/Night and Day, and has directed several documentary films. The novel received the 2010 Prix Littéraire Continental in the New Talent category. Since 2013 he has been the spokesperson for the city of Lodève, and director of L'Espace Nelson-Mandela there. 

A glance through Sabir: Slam poésie indicates that all of the poems are meant to be performed live. Reading a few aloud, I can hear their close relationship to American slam poems. They utilize similar internal rhythms and rhymes, with often razor-sharp wordplay, and most aim to make strong political statements. In sum they differ from the various conventions of French poetry that I usually have encountered, especially in translation. They are clearly spoken-word poems, with the speed and force of that genre, and some are quite powerful. I have chosen one that does not rely so much on verbal play but which is far more straightforward and represents an overt diasporic gesture. 

One of the points that I made during my comments on race and translation at the Thinking Its Presence panel organized by Jen Hofer was that in the Anglophone world--and this includes the Anglophone African Diaspora, including Black Americans--is we have a limited view of the lives of other Black people across the globe in part because so few of their works get translated. Music travels, certainly, as does film, but how much--and how little--do we know about the world in which someone like Sunjata lives? We can infer a great deal from the parallels between French and American society, but what do we lose when we cannot read his words directly, even with the slippages that translation by its nature entails? When one considers the ongoing tensions in Western societies around race, nationality, religion, class, and other identity formations, shouldn't we want to pay a bit more attention? 

At the same time, as the poem below, "Up to Obama" indicates, he is quite aware of Black/American history, the eccentric French spellings notwithstanding (I have left all of the original orthography as it appeared in French, with corrections only in English), and the inspiration and power that he and other Black Diasporic people draw from it. This is not to deproblematize the Obama presidency or its continuation of some of the worst aspects of American imperialism and recolonization, but rather to note that even among his black and brown critics, Obama remains a powerful symbol, in part because of the tradition that made him possible and which he in many ways represents. I'll now end my long introduction and just present Sunjata's poem: "Jusqu'à Obama" (Up to Obama)."

JUSQU'À OBAMA / UP TO OBAMA

La barbe de Lincoln Le treizième amendement ratifié par le Congrès Le bicorne de Marcus Garvey La blackstar line contre vents et marées Le reniement de la nationalité américaine de Web Du Bois Le manteau de Rosa Parks La moustache de Martin Luther King La bague de Malcom x Le visage tuméfié de Rodney King Les lunettes de Malik el Shabazz L'afro de Stokely Carmichael Le poing levé des athlètes de Mexico L'assissinat de JFK Les freedom riders de Montgomery L'assissinat de Martin Luther King L'assissinat de Malcom x Le cuir noir du Black Panthers Party Le dashiki de Ron Karenga L'impudence de Cassius Clay L'impudence de Mohamed Ali Rumble in the jungle Ali/Foreman à Kinshasa Ali boma yé! Ali tue-le. Foreman KO en lingala! Le Vietnam L'humiliation vietcong La bannière étoilée se pare de oripeaux du drame, Les poèmes de Maya Angelou La NAACP Huey Newton qui crame Soul on ice d'Eldridge Cleaver L'assissinat de Fred Hampton Mumia Abu-Jamal La gouaille de Rap Brown Le cointelpro et l'implacable J. Edgar Hoover La répression des droits civiques à Jackson Le sacerdoce du révérend Jesse Jackson Le black business d'Andrew Young Les soul fictions de Chester Himes Say loud i am black proud La blackpoitation de John Shaft Le groove rageur d'Isaac Hayes Gil Scott Heron Devines qui vient dîner ce soir? Un noir! Sidney Poitiers estampillé blackstar Le noeud pap' d'Elijah Mohamed Le délire de Louis Farrakhan Oprah Winfrey Show Cosby Show La geste de la liberté de l'Alabama à l'Obama.

The beard of Lincoln The Thirteenth Amendment ratified by Congress The cocked hat of Marcus Garvey The Blackstar Line against winds and tides The renunciation of American nationality by W. E. B. Du Bois The coat of Rosa Parks The mustache of Martin Luther King The ring of Malcolm X The swollen face of Rodney King The glasses of Malik el Shabazz The afro of Stokely Carmichael The raised fists of the athletes in Mexico The assassination of JFK The Freedom Riders of Montgomery The assassination of Martin Luther King The assassination of Malcolm X The black leather of the Black Panther Party The dashiki of Ron Karenga The impudence of Cassius Clay The impudence of Muhammad Ali Rumble in the Jungle Ali/Foreman in Kinshasa Ali boma yé! Ali kills him. Foreman KO'ed in lingala! Vietnam The Vietcong humiliation The Star-Spangled Banner adornes itself with dramatic rags The poems of Maya Angelou The NAACP Huey Newton who's burning up Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver The assassination of Fred Hampton Mumia Abu-Jamal The joaning of Rap Brown Cointelpro and the implacable J. Edgar Hoover The repression of Jackson's civil rights The vocation of Reverend Jesse Jackson The black business of Andrew Young The soul fictions of Chester Himes Say it out loud, I'm black and I'm proud The blacksploitation of John Shaft The angry groove of Isaac Hayes Gil Scott-Heron Can you guess who's coming to dinner? A black man! Sidney Poitier stamped as a black star The sacred knot of Elijah Muhammad The madness of Louis Farrakhan Oprah Winfrey Show Cosby Show The gesture of liberty from Alabama to Obama.

Here is a different sort of poem from the same volume. It has such swift and playful rhymes and homophony (début/eut/haut/beaux/débats/débit, etc.), along the lines both of hip hop and (in)famous French writers like Paul Verlaine ("Chanson d'automne") and Raymond Roussel it would be almost impossible to render perfectly into English. Here's a rough version, with some English-language music to parallel, however poorly, the French.

PALABRES / PALAVER

Au début il y eut Des hauts des bas Des beaux débats À haut débit C'était de bons débuts Des baux des buts Des bruits d'ébats De gros débris Des bris des bras Des gros dégâts Des aaah!!! des oooh!!! Face au tourment des maux Le détournement des mots Contournement des maux Desmotscratie des parlementeurs Qui parlent et m'enterrent Palabreurs, palabrant pas à l'abri À l'abri des malappris Palabres n'est pas bon.

At the start there were Some highs some lows Some great debate At the peak flow It was a good debut Some lease some goals Some lovemaking sounds A lot of debris Some shards some arms Tremendous harm Some aaahs!!! Some ooohs!!! Facing pain's agony The diversion of words Suffering's contortions Wordocracy of parliamentarians Who speak and bury me Palaverers, palavering not in a refuge hidden from the misunderstood palaver isn't good.

Copyright © Sunjata, from Sabir: Slam poésie, La Roque-d'Anthéron, France: Vents d'ailleurs, 2014, 2015. Translation copyright © John Keene, 2015.