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Joyce Mansour (1928 -1986) was born Joyce Patricia Adès, in Bowden, England to Jewish-Egyptian parents. She lived in Cairo where she first came in contact with Parisian surrealism and then moved to Paris in 1953 where she became the best known Surrealist woman poet, author of 16 books of poetry, as well as a number of important prose and theater pieces.

Here are two of her poems:

I saw my belly's electric red hairRise toward my breasts, feathered bird,And I laughed.I saw humanity vomit in a shaky church basinAnd I did not listen to my heart.I saw a camel dressed and leaving for MeccaWithout the thousand and one sand vendors and the scalyOf the black crowds.But I could not go with themLaziness had reduced the better part of my fervorAnd routine had retrieved the dislocatedDance of the big toe.

I want to sleep with you

I want to sleep with you side by sideOur hair intertwinedOur sexes joinedWith your mouth for a pillow.I want to sleep with you back to backWith no breath to part usNo words to distract usNo eyes to lie to usWith no clothes on.To sleep with you breast to breastTense and sweatingShining with a thousand quiversConsumed by ecstatic mad inertiaStretched out on your shadowHammered by your tongueTo die in a rabbit’s rotting teethHappy.

	--Joyce Mansour, 1955

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This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Joyce Mansour", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0