Mo Abbas: Macadam, courir les rues
Macadam, courir les rues (engl: Macadam, running through the streets)
Illus. by Julien Martinière
Le port a jauni 2020
As an “asphalt poet”, Mo Abbas seeks to track down the mysteries of the city. He collects and re-works unusual street names, peculiar traffic signs, the bizarre signage over shops and snack bars, but also the calls of mothers and seagulls… In “Macadam, courir les rues”, a street light becomes a candelabra, whose day begins when it is extinguished. At the train station, Mo Abbas observes daydreaming passers-by, wondering what they are thinking and where they are going. In the park, an imperceptible atmosphere of freedom prevails: animals, tourists and teenagers in cheerful harmony. The snippets of talk and conversations overhead during a bus ride are assembled into amusing three-liners – “it is so hot/I could fry an egg/ on the thigh of my leg!” And in the cottony stillness after a rainstorm with thunder and lightning, the strolling poet listens to the heart of the city beating.
German-French Reading: Grade 7+ / basic knowledge of French welcome
French Reading: Grade 8+ / Language level A2+