To put my soul in an empty body,
All of a sudden, being another woman,
And that Juliette Noureddine
In one of them takes root.
Choosing among the eminent women,
The one who would make me a shivering one,
Among all of those who knew how to frolic,
Who knew how to love, who knew how to fight,
My innate sisters, my twins,
My scholars, and my silly geese
Julie, Juliette, or Justine,
All of my feminine rhymes
Clara Zetkin, Anaïs Nin
Or Garbo, in Queen Christina
On the celestial carrousel,
Choosing among these ladies,
Camille Claudel, Mam’zelle Chanel
Or the enraged Louise Michel
Living again as a dove, or a raptor,
Writing, singing, or doing tricks
Margot Duras, Maria Callas
Or even Kiki from Montparnasse
Being born tomorrow, being reborn yesterday,
Marching forward, marching in reverse
Embodying myself in these divergences,
These beauties, these intelligent women
And enjoying the fortunate demise,
To put my steps into theirs
Musidora, La Pavlova
Or my great-grandmother, that big mouth Teresa
Whether I have [their] mind, or [their] looks,
Or even both of them, please
Juliette Drouet, La Signoret,
Or the Great Billie Holiday
All sails set, or singing,
With one of them, rebelling
Flora Tristan, Yvonne Printemps,
Or the fierce Isadora Duncan
Having as their only weapon their pride,
and as a lover, freedom
The Brontë sisters, Louise Labé,
Or Lou-Andréas Salomé
Even if I have to pay the price,
To be the flower, to be the fruit,
To be Alice Guy, to be Arletty,
Marie Bubas, Marie Curie
But please, no birth,
nor youth, nor adolescence,
Spare me the pink room,
Be good, o metempsychosis1
Allow your Juliette
not to grow up as a trendy girl,
But as a Colette, a Mistinguett,
Or why not Madame de Lafayette
Take me, I’m asking you,
Instantly into the presence of the great ones
Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand,
Or that good woman George Sand
Place me beside the heart,
Beside the talent, the happiness
Loïe Fuller, Dottie Parker,
Or saint Joséphine Baker
Yes, immediately, in the fires of glory,
In the limelight and in history
La Yourcenar, Sarah Bernhardt,
Or the very wise Simone de Beauvoir
A silver voice at the bottom of a harbour,
A wordsmith of steel, or a heart of gold
La Solidor, Christiane Rochefort,
Or Marceline Desbordes-Valmore
The fearless belles without brood
All naked in the midst of the hail of bullets
Sylvia Bataille, Anna de Noailles
Comrade Alexandra Kollontai
And agitators of dives,
Brandishing hope and gouge
Olympe de Gouges, Rosa-la-Rouge,
And the old Germaine de Montrouge
The line of [female] dominators,
Ladies, Mesdames, doñas, or misses
Like Cariathys, or Leda Gys,
Angela and Bette Davis
The train of Devil and his she-devils,
Poisonous ones and tigresses
Lola Montès, Gina Manès,
And the poisoner Borgia Lucrèce
At last I have, to be sincere,
A taste for foul-mouthed beauties
Yvette Guilbert, Claire Bretécher,
I’d even go as far as Anne Sinclair
But if so many wishes torment you,
If it goes against doctrine
To aim for great karma,
Then bring me back in anonymity.
Waiting for everything to change radically,
For Satan to congratulate me
Or for angels to throw me a party,
Allow me one last request
Let your sista be reborn,
As anybody, as a factory girl,
As a nobody, or as a kitchen servant,
As a Croatian or as a North African,
As Éponine, as Clémentine,
As Mala Malika or Marylin
And if your ‘kitchen zodiac’
By chance doesn’t decide it,
I’ll accept, disciplined,
To come back as a show-off,
As a libertine, as a slut,
Even as Juliette Noureddine!
1. metempsychosis = reincarnation (literary word).