This poem is taken from PN Review 261, Volume 48 Number 1, September - October 2021.

what i hid (translated by David Colmer)

Radna Fabias
Translated by David Colmer

rims
the impeccably polished rims shining in the sun
      too big and too expensive for the cars they spin under

the tinted windows of the cars with the shining rims
the almost horizontal drivers of the cars with the tinted windows and the shining rims
the explosive bass from the subwoofers installed in the trunks
the dust from the dry fields
and pomade: green
or the black version
smells of oil refinery
perfect
for the hair of the modern neger in the 1980s
perfect
to accentuate the natural blackness, to make it gleam
perfect
for catching the dust

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