Voies de fait

“Voies de fait” by Jean-Marie Dutey exploits the reader’s sensation of a lack of control to sent a strong political message. The reader has a physical and direct role in the poem. Like in a video game, the reader moves about the poem using the arrow keys on his or her keyboard. The reader’s avatar runs between or on the stanzas, which are arranged in blocks. At first it seems as though the stanzas continue infinitely. There is only one blue stanza—the rest are grey—to provide some sort of starting point. There are a total of five columns and five rows of stanzas. The stanzas repeat themselves in every direction so that if the reader’s avatar begins at the blue stanza and heads to the right, the reader will see the four stanzas that follow, and then again the blue stanza with once again the following stanzas. Here is the complete text (beginning with the blue stanza): VIVRE HEROS C’EST GRAND ARMEE OBEIR TIEDE IDIOT FRERE VERTE A CET QUE L‘ JE NE IBM QUE L’ ORDRE ENFER BANDE FERME ECHEC ENFIN CACHE PLUS ! L’ŒIL GAGNE C’EST CIVIL CRANE HEIGE BOIRE GRAVE CIBLE FENDU BLEUE L’AIR QUAND OTAGE PAR L’ SUR L’ QUAND TU ES D’UNE ACIER ECRAN L’EAU MORT ? HEURE TORDU VIDEO BAULE TIERS NOTRE COMME AOBOT VILLE MONDE PASSE SI LE TUEUR PUNIE QUE L’ ETAIT FUTUR QUE L’ RAYEE ISLAM AUSSI ETAIT OMBRE DE LA ROULE AGITE BANNI GRISE CARTE FLASH ATOME AUCUN ECLAT BETON BLANC EVADE AUTRE BOUGE VOIBRE TU AS DE L’ APPEL BOMBE GEODE MOINS OGIVE DE LA RAYON ATI- FROID POLIE TERRE LASER FUSEE MAMAN HOMME PLUIE MACHII SALUE MAMAN SANG- NOIRE L’AIR MAUVE OU TU FROID JAPON RUGIT QUE L’ ES ? ET CHAIR AVANT ET SE AVION PAPA ? ROTIE APRES BRISE LANCE The text can be read in multiple directions because there is no temporal reading, rather a spatial reading. Each stanza paints a strong image but is independent of the others around it to complete this image. The ensemble of images created by the stanzas tells the story of the Japanese bombings during WWII. The narrator sides evidently with the civilian victims who lost their lives due to a war in which they played no part. The title refers to the legal term “assault” or, more specifically, the illegal executive action taken by a governing body. The structure of the poem creates a link between the victims who could not escape and the reader who is lost amidst these lines.