Another Chapter of the Medical History of Federman (march 2009)

Annoté chapitre de la médicale histoire de Federman (mars 2009)

you may have been wondering where I was
the past two days in the hospital
three days ago I needed to take a leak
which is a natural function
both of animals and humans
so I unzipped my fly as human males normally do
animals don't have that problem that is why
their underwear is not pissed in
and I take out my dick and hold it with one hand
normally my left hand don't ask me why
and
oh les shit I screamed
and Erica asked what's wrong
I am pissing solid blood
E says it must have to do with that damn chemo         [pill
you take -- that student [?] -- the doc did say that      [there
could be blood in your urine -
come and see this - this is not blood in the urine
this is blood --- solid blood
so I shove my cock back in my pants
zipped up and started to panic
what shall we do I asked E
let's wait and see
that evening before going to bed
already undressed so not need to
unzip etc. again a flood of blood
like the red sea pours out of me
same thing in the morning micturition
we immediately called the doctor
who removed my left kidney
and he said go quickly to urgent care
I'm calling there to order some tests
well to make a bloody story shorter
in the urgent care they took some
blood from one of the veins in my arm
which didn’t make sense to me
I could have pissed some blood for them
they did a Ct Scan to see if perhaps there was
internal bleeding and more test etc. etc.
and it was decided that I should be
hospitalized until the cause of the
urine blood was determined
and so here I am in this hospital room
and all kinds of doctors and nurses
come to inspect me and give me pills
and shoved a long tube up my dick
so I can piss in one of those recipients
whose names I cannot pronounce
well after having examined the blood
that came from one of my veins and et
the one in the recipient it was determined
that the cause of this bloody mess was
the cumaden that I was taken
cumaden [sic] if you are not familiar
with that drug supposedly thins the blood
so that it doesn't become a blood clot
and so I've taken this drug now for a
couple of months which is a fucking
nuisance because you have to take
the pill immediately after dinner
but for some reason I am not at home
having dinner but somewhere else
and I don't have my pills with me
it screws the whole system
so I stayed two days in the hospital
being taken care of by friendly nurses
but today my urine returned to its
natural color I need not specify
which shade of yellow and so
I was discharged
simone asked it if was an
honorable or dishonorable discharge
and so now we have another chapter
of the medical history of Federman

vous avez bien dû chercher mon ardoise
alors que je passais deux jours à l’hôpital
il y a trois jours j’ai eu besoin d’un déclic
qui est une fonction naturelle
aux animaux et humains
sot j’ai dessapé ma faille comme font les mâles         [humains doux
les animaux n’ont pas ce problème d’attise ouailles
leur désir déclenche sans piscine
et sortant ma trique pour qu’elle bande
normale maille léphante dont tasse mi-ouaille
et
oh les chics ice-creams
et Erica demande ce qui cloche gong 
je pisse la solide boue
et dis la faute à cette damnée chimio qui pile
hou t’es que -- ce que tu sens -- le doc disait ça a      [l’air
de la gourbi boue dans ton urine -
carmen isis - c’est pas de la boue dans l’urine
si si boue --- solide boue
semaille chauve ma coque baille dans ma pente
le slip entarté de panique
que faire? je demande andouille
et laisse être ici
le soir avant d’être tout bête
jamais plus dressé, sonate nie tout
slip et gaine, un flou de boue
un lac raidi et fou d’ovnis
même cirque pour ma matinale miction
on colle immediately au docteur
qui m’a déjà enlevé leffe et kinders
il nous mène aux urgences qu’errent
et ma colique somme de faire des tests
mais pas trop d’histoires avec cette boue                 [d’horreur
les plus courtes sont mieux pour mon short en         [somme
ils prennent du sang dans l’une de mes veines,         [c’est l’alarme
ça n’a aucun sens pour moi
il a pissé de la boue dit le fort en thème
et de me faire un Ct Scan pour voir mes hanaps     [et vases
avec l’interne blédine et la mort il la teste etc etc
c’est ainsi qu’on se prend le chou bis
pour décider de m’hospitaliser jusqu’à ce que la         [cause de
mon urine blouse soit exterminée
et sourire je dois dans cet hôpital roux
avec ces kings docteurs et nurses
qui m’inspectent me givrent et me pilent
ils me sauvent par un long tube dans ma trique
qui pisse dans un rose récipient
dont le nom ressemble à un canot  de nonce
bon et après avoir examiné la boue
la came fromage de mes veines et
celle du récipient plus déterminé
que la cause rosisse de cette blottie messe en         [vase
le camé don que j’ai sur le cake
le camé don (sic) si vous n’êtes pas familier
avec ce truc supposément charrié dans la boue
statique comme came au tabou code
je vais donc le prendre ce truc foireux
pour un couple de mois au goût de phoque in
- nommable cause yaourt ou tek
te pile immédiatement après dîner
ta somme résonne d’une note atome
avant dîner c’est pareil ou à Else
- neur tu pourris et deviens mie
ça explose le hall du système
alors mieux vaut rester à l’hôpital
cajolé par des friandes du lit nurses
et aujourd’hui mon urine revenue au top des hits
de couleur naturelle, sans idée d’espèce ni faille
oui j’cède le vélo et lasso
j’ai déchargé
simone a demandé si c’était
honorable ou déshonorable décharge
et maintenant je, oui,  bave l’annoté chapitre
de la médicale histoire de Federman


The France Issue

Summer 2010

Poems

Raymond Federman

Raymond Federman (1928-2009) was a French-American poet and novelist. He was born in Montrouge, France, and emigrated to the United States in 1947. He earned a doctorate in comparative literature at UCLA, and continued throughout his life to dialogue with Samuel Beckett in his scholarly writing and literary works. As an experimental novelist and translator who published works in French and English, Federman remains a singular figure in the American literary tradition; esteem for his work grew most quickly in Germany, while the United States and France continue to discover and rediscover his many creations. A mediator of the French tradition in the US, he explored oralized styles autofictional narratives and genre-bending forms crucial to the French novel since writers like Louis-Ferdinand Céline and Blaise Cendrars. But his digressive narratives (such as Double or Nothing in 1971 or Amer Eldorado 2/001 in 2001) owe as much to Beckett’s novels as they do to a long line of English-language novelists like Laurence Sterne or Herman Melville. And his jubilant, transgressive imagination, full of huge bonhomie and bizarre conceits, belongs to him alone, as illustrated, for instance, in the last work published during his lifetime, Les Carcasses (Paris: Editions Léo Scheer/Laureli, 2009), a wryly delivered fable on the afterlife, amplified by Federman’s authorized "translator" Stéphane Rouzé (originally published in partial form in 2007 by the Librairie Olympique). Other important works include Chut (Paris: Léo Scheer, 2008), Mon corps en neuf parties (Romainville/Paris: Al Dante/Léo Scheer, 2004), Future concentration (poems, Marseille, France: Le Mot et le Reste, 2003) and many others. Raymond Federman’s disappearance on the 6th of October, 2009 was deeply felt by his friends and admirers.

Craduction française par Pierre Le Pillouër

Pierre Le Pillouër was born in Louhans, France in 1950, and now lives and works in Vallauris, France. He co-edited the renowned journal TXT from 1983 to 1993, and is the creator and editor-in-chief of the journal Sitaudis, online since October 2001. He is notably the author of Chair jaune (craductions of poems by Raymond Federman, Coutras, France: Editions Le Bleu du Ciel, 2007), Ajouts contre jour (Editions Le Bleu du Ciel, 2008) and Trouver Hortense (Besançon, France: Editions Virgile / Ulysse fin de siècle, 2008). A number of other craductions of Raymond Federman’s poems have recently appeared in the widely acclaimed Revue internationale des livres et des idées, no. 14 (November-December 2009).