“MY ARROGANCE KNOWS NO BOUNDS AND I WILL MAKE NO PEACE TODAY, AND YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY TO FIND A WOMAN LIKE ME” | Jenny Holzer, “Projections”
Important note : this is a projection by artist Jenny Holzer, but the text comes from a poem by Arab American writer Mohja Kahf, ’Ishtar Awakens in Chicago’. Holzer used Kahf’s work with her full agreement, I believe they’ve collaborated several times, but please check out the full context of the poem below.
My arrogance knows no bounds And I will make no peace today And you shall be so lucky To find a woman like me
Today neither will the East claim me nor the West admit me Today my belly is a well wherein serpents are coiled ready to poison the world, and you should be so lucky.
All I have is my arrogance I will teach it to lean back and smoke a cigarette in your faces, and you should be so lucky
No I will make no peace even though my hands are empty I will talk as big as I please I will be all or nothing And I will jump before the heavy trucks And I will saw off my leg at the thigh before I bend one womanly knee
I am poison And you will drink me And you should be so lucky.