Your Morning Djebar
For Monday August 3rd, 2026
“As I listened, I discovered the deep shame which we suffer before the spectacle of other people's sorrow.” — Assia Djebar, La soif
Bonus Djebar:
“Since they weren’t sleepy and nothing had been left unsaid, they began to read poetry to each other, taking turns like children and enjoying it. Bachir had a lovely voice, one that was already that of a man. He knew many poems by heart. He lovingly recited Victor Hugo, with warmth Rimbaud’s Le bateau ivre, and poems written by young people going into battle; he then moved on to the poets of liberty – Rimbaud again, Eluard, and Desnos.”
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For the second, isn't it frightening how foreign it feels to imagine actual common people caring about poetry and literature?
For the first, I've been saying for years that we're meanest toward those who inspire our shame. Trump's current push to erase American history admits that it's those who know they can but will never do better who can't handle the truth.