Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

A Hundred Scents, A Hundred Seasons

2021; University of Hawaii Press; Volume: 34; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/man.2021.0036

1527-943X

K.N. Kim, Christophe Macquet, Sharon May,

Cambodian History and Society

A Hundred Scents, A Hundred Seasons Khau Ny Kim (bio) Translated from Khmer by Christophe Macquet and Sharon May I want you to wake before dawn and come with me,I want you to see the sky washed by the night's rains,I want you to breathe in nature as yet unspoiled,Open the door of our thoughts and the cherished scents of our memory: The rumduol flower that intoxicated me near the temple of Preah Khan,Candles and incense before the Buddha footprint at the top of Phnom Kulen,The guano of bats huddling in a gallery of Angkor Wat,Dead leaves mixed with earth on the path to Ta Prohm. The muddy pond where children gather to catch fish,Ripe mangoes in the baskets of vendors in the town market of Ta Khmao,The prahok that a farm family carries in a cart on the way to Prek Pnov village,Salted crab in open jars in the Kampot market. Fresh sugar-palm fruit picked to make akao cakes,Pickled cabbage marinated in jars at Chbar Ampov,Duck kakor soup in the market by the river in Battambang,The first toasted rice when the cold Kadek winds blow from the North. The seaweed left at low tide on the beaches of Kep,The roasted chicken that little girls offer to bus passengers in Tram Khnar market,The grilled bananas sold by old women sitting near the high walls of Wat Langka,The rows of jars filled with palm sugar in the market of Baek Chan. And the smell of the earth welcoming the first rains,The aroma of ma'om growing in paddy fields filled with young rice seedlings,The scent of sap from the hevea trees growing in the rubber plantations of Memot,The Khmer perfumes and powders sold in the narrow lanes of Si Nhek market. [End Page 88] And I remember with you,The scent of flowers floating in the night along Norodom Boulevard,The smoke of candles and incense on holy days before the altar of Preah Ang Dorng Keur,The aroma of cakes and dishes during the Festival of the Dead in the temple of Stung Meanchey,And this—the perfume of your hair that the wind once brushed against my face. February 1980 [End Page 89] Khau Ny Kim khau ny kim was born in Cambodia, studied in France, and returned to Phnom Penh to teach. He has been living in France since 1975. Much of his work speaks to the condition of exile. His poems have been published in the online literary journal of the Association of Khmer Writers Abroad (AEKE) and broadcast on Radio France Internationale (RFI) in the 1970s to 1990s. His novels have been serialized in Khmer newspapers in the U.S. He is one of the few Khmer poets to write in free verse. His recent work is included in Aksarsel Santepheap (Literature for Peace), a Khmer literature anthology published in Paris in 2021. Christophe Macquet christophe macquet is a writer, translator, and photographer. From 1994 to 2004, he was a professor and coordinator of a literary translation program at the Department of French Language of the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Among his many translations from Khmer to French are Génial et Génital, short stories by Soth Polin (2017); and L'Accusé by Khun Srun (2018). His translations from French to Khmer include Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (2002) and Un barrage contre le Pacifique by Marguerite Duras (2021). His photographic work includes L'Oiseau: récit physique (The Bird: A Physical Narrative, 2014). His latest book of poetry, DÂH: Dans la nuit khmère (DÂH: In the Khmer Night), is forthcoming from Éditions Lurlure in 2022. Sharon May sharon may researched the Khmer Rouge regime for Columbia University's Center for the Study of Human Rights, and guest-edited In the Shadow of Angkor: Contemporary Writing from Cambodia (Mānoa, 2004). Her photography has appeared in Dancing in Site II: Life and Art in Cambodian Refugee Camps after the War (2018) and is on permanent exhibit at the Peace Gallery in Battambang. Her fiction has appeared in...