THE GOON IS DEAD
Beauty Conquers Ugliness
I saw the goon swinging the cat over his head by the tail like a buffoon. I thought of you, feeding dogs on the island, repairing the world one heartbreak at a time. I heard the goon's mad laughter on TV as he flung the howling kitten across the burning street. I thought of you, wiring money to a starving musician you once met somewhere at the other end of the earth, where the blushing new moon rose over a tortured, wounded city.
The goon carefully took aim at the frightened moon, cruelty and sin foaming from his mouth like acid in a dead car battery. His missile sailed into the velvet universe in slow motion, like a biblical scar, and the moon exploded into flames, falling from the sky like a grandmother's tears.
Ostriches ran for cover as bombs detonated on the savanna. I thought of you, with your bejeweled boot on the throat of the goon, your arrow bursting open his right eye like a ripe pomegranate. A beleaguered people came out to celebrate the end of the oppressor.
"The goon is dead," the kids chanted, playing football in the dirt with his bald, ugly head. I thought of you amongst the Quiver trees with ghost zebras, and souls of extinct animals escaping the tyranny of drought. I came to tell you I like happy endings.
YEMMUT UMEṬṬU
Cbaḥa teɣleb cceɛb
Ẓriɣ aɛdaw-nni yettḥewwisen amcic-nni ɣef uqerruy-is s tmeẓẓuɣt am uɛebbuḍ. Xemmemeɣ fell-ak, tesseččayeḍ iqjan di tegzirt, tessewjadeḍ amaḍal yiwen n ul s yiwen. Sliɣ i taḍsa n tmeṭṭut-nni n tmeṭṭut deg tiliẓri mi d-yessers aqcic-nni yettḥewwisen ɣef yidis n webrid i d-yesɣermen. Xemmemeɣ fell-ak, tceyyeɛeḍ idrimen s lxiḍ i yiwen n uẓawan yemmuten s laẓ i temlalḍ yiwet n tikkelt anda-nniḍen deg tlemmast nniḍen n lqaɛa, anda ay d-yeffeɣ waggur amaynut i d-yesfeḍḍen ɣef yiwet n temdint yettwaɛettben, yettwajerḥen.
Goon-nni s lḥir yeṭṭef iswi-s ɣer wayyur-nni yugaden, lbaṭel d ddnub ttfeggiḍen-d seg yimi-s am l’acide deg tbatrit n tkerrust yemmuten. Tameẓdit-is teffeɣ-d deg ddunit n lqaḍi s tɣawla, am tmeẓẓuɣt n tudert, yerna ayyur yeffeɣ-d d iḥeǧǧuǧa, yeɣli-d seg yigenni am imeṭṭawen n tmeṭṭut tameqqrant.
Iɣersiwen n tẓegwa uzzlen akken ad sfeḍḍen mi ttwabẓent lbumbat ɣef tẓegwa. Xemmemeɣ fell-ak, s tbuciḍant-ik n tmeẓyant ɣef tɣerɣert n lbaḍna, lfeṭṭa-inek tettfeggiḍ-d allen-is tiyeffusin am tmeẓyant n tmeẓyant. Yeffeɣ-d yiwen n weɣref yettwaḥebsen akken ad sfuglen taggara n uɣerman.
Goon yemmut, ttcekkiren warrac, ttturaren ddabex n uḍar deg lqaɛa s uqerruy-is aɛezri, aɛezri. Xemmemeɣ fell-ak gar yisekla n Quiver s yiɣersiwen n lǧennet, d yiṛuḥaniyen n yiɣersiwen ixuṣṣen i d-irewlen seg lbaṭel n tɣerɣert. Usiɣ-d ad ak-iniɣ ḥemmleɣ taggara n tumert.