tarek chemaly
three books
2009
\_Front page
\_Strata
read
\_getting the news
  from poems
\_Archewallogy
\_Jnune 7 – 2009
\_earlier writings
(2002/2003)
(| EN | FR |)
o-----////()/---[getting the news from poems]------(| Tarek Chemaly · 2009 |)------¬ contents
Catcher in the Rhyme 2005

The king of the plastic republic

The plastic republic, as I have been told,
Was delimited by the sky from above,
The domains of the “wicked witch of the left” to the left,
The green meadow to the right,
And the extension of the telephone cable tunnels below.

A long time ago, some twenty three generations of martian beetles back,
There lived a king in the plastic republic,
He was the only one to claim such a title, the king had a spouse, the queen,
and a son, the prince,
There were also rumors that there was a frog living somewhere in the king-
dom but these rumors were never certified.

The king was the richest man in the republic,
And claimed he was richer than all those who lived in the sky above,
The domains of the “wicked witch of the left” to the left,
The green meadow to the right,
And the extension of the telephone cable tunnels below even if he didn’t
know how rich, were those who lived in the telephone cable tunnels below.

The king was also happier than all of those who lived in the terrains delimit-
ing the republic,
Because he was richer than them, even if,
During certain nights,
He was actually sad to think that one day,
Or one night,
He would meet someone richer than him living in the extension of the tel-
ephone cables below.
118

Tarek Chemaly, “The king of the plastic republic”, getting the news from poems (2009), p. 118.

Tarek Chemaly’s three books of 2009, published on 111101 with the author’s permission. getting the news from poems: layout Mike Awad. Archewallogy: design Farah Samman, cover Ashekman. Jnune 7 – 2009: with Rami El Khoury, Upstairs Publishing; photographs as credited on each page.