Erín Moure

Extract from O Cadoiro (‘The Fall’)

written upon an erasure rriam
written upon an erasure gran poder
eu...sazon written upon an erasure
written upon an erasure.
in the right margin: o. sennor nn written upon an erasure.
also deleted by horizontal line.

malegrar eg partially obliterated
badly spotted: pasted to board cover. when removed, the lines were produced in reverse, readable in the negative of photography. a combination of original folio and the board impressions produces the text we accomplish here. there commenced my bad times, of which I had never feared, I dreamed all my sleep, and now.
partially erased
written upon an erasure
with a horizontal line
written upon an erasure in the right margin partially obliterated
partially smudged written also in left margin
erasure between these words erasure of the i after s
second e superposed above er.
in left margin in light ink: 7.
written upon an erasure: in left margin am´j
it would be better just to kill me
the one gone silent wills it so
To me kill willdo much more good
erasure between these words
also deleted by horizontal line
erasure erasure partially faded and written upon an erasure
in left margin ca morrerei. smudge over qu.
smudge over ee
smudged smudged also smudged
erasure of nunca between these two words
written upon an erasure polo grã
ei   i
que ui
ei euerdade
do  o
cuiden
que... ren
pre g~utar
no me
meu   u
uos
illegible illegible rrespondeolhe
ferrfram.



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« Le sujet, donc, est la possibilité que la langue ne soit pas, n’ait pas lieu — — ou, mieux, qu’elle n’ait lieu qu’à travers sa possibilité — — de ne pas être, sa contingence. »


G. Agamben
p. 158
Ce qui reste d’Auschwitz



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(until I knew you)

My only habits were so worn!
(until I knew you)

I had................................



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This night of liquid storms, high noon’s dwelling

Thi snigh tofliqu idstorms, highn oons~ duu ellin~
Can you follow me in the markings we call
words through such liquidity?

Liquidity’s vault, that vault’s over
all’t brough near it
Pul sof rayn, epiphn ny?


« Plus d’un, comme moi sans doute, écrivent pour n’avoir plus de visage. » MFoucault


[449] #504
Dom Dinis



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Where there’s some exact toke~ of the world
even a tree, the white noon light
on its bark

We were walking back from the field....
(but you were never in a field)

The mud on our instruments was flecked with seed,
(but you did not return from that field)

And seed’s a toke~ of the world
As my Liz is to me, as world is

(ah but one day in such a field, one hour, one seed?)



[631 bis _88] #667
Dom Joham d’Auoyn



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It was at the fountain where I washed my curls,
Mother, and where I did loosen them
            and me
                        oh lucent

It was at the spring where I rinsed my locks
Mother, and where I did loosen them
            and me
                        Lucent

At the fountain where I did loosen my curls
there I knew — Mother — one to lord over them.
            and me
                        Lucent oh

Before I from that place departed
Loosened was I in the words he’d told me
            and me
                        oh oh    [lucent


[652] #689
Don Joham Soarez Coelho
«and so I did appease them»



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Leuantoussa uelida
Leuantoussalva
Euay lauar camisas
Eno alto
Uaylas lauer Alua


[534bis] #569 O Rei Dom Dinis
JL Nancy : où discerner l’écriture, sinon à même son “graphème”?
(une transcription fidèle)



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“This development of pt to (xt) followed by vocalization of the palatal was characteristic of Celtic: aceptar (L) becoming aceitar (PT).”

José Pedro Machado Origens do Português 1967 citing
Edwin Williams, From Latin to Portuguese, 1962 citing
Georges Dottin, Manuel pour servir à l’Étude de l’Antiquité celtique, 1906

*

That the palate and speaking timbre of a vanished language can enter another, as accent. After travelling as far away as Canada on the back of a fish, feeding directly from its blood, the ciclostome, a lampreia, returns to the Rio Limia where it was born, to seed its young before it dies.

In the Portuguese writings, the ciclostome is said to be favoured and succulent.
In the English writings, it is said to be of little use to man.

Constat du vendredi 30 janvier: That writing is not, and can never be, a prosthèse for memory. Derrida: “L’archive est hypomnésique.” p. 26


[631 _88] #667
Dom Joham d’Auoyn
“devenue le sujet spectral”



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Rain’s fall or choiva,
what do any of us know?

We were out studying so long by that water
Cars passing by, trucks, conveyances

And me, you, any of us
Wetly walking

E amores tantas coytas lhy dan


[672] #709
Gonçal Eanes do Vinhal

Erín Moure is a Montreal poet and translator. Her newest book of poems, Little Theatres, appeared from Anansi in Toronto in April, 2005. Photo credit: lemonhound.