March 31, 2025

Ink is the Strongest Gunpowder

by Athena Farrokhzad

trans. by Kira Josefsson

Poet and comrade Athena Farrokhzad delivers a lecture on “Foucault 101 in less than a minute”, reminding us of the crucial difference between a bullet in its chamber and ink in its well. Translated from the Swedish by Kira Josefsson.

—Nour Eldin H., assistant editor

are you a total fucking idiot
do you know anything about gunpowder      
have you heard a hand grenade detonate
have you seen a combat medic amputate eighty legs in one go
do you understand what 75% saltpeter
15% charcoal and 10% sulfur can achieve

—Athena Farrokhzad, trans. by Kira Josefsson

Ink is the Strongest Gunpowder

excuse me I couldn’t help but overhear

that you said ink is the strongest gunpowder

perhaps you’re a poet or a lieutenant

a former boy scout maybe

a student of civil engineering or technical chemistry

you might have a side gig as a calligrapher

or a reseller of laser printers

maybe you know what you’re talking about

you’ve logged your weapons tests

run comparative surveys

soundtracked the explosions with your typewriter’s clatter

you might have studied conjugation

and concluded that the positive and the comparative don’t quite suffice

that the situation truly does require a superlative

strong stronger strongest

that the tenor and the vehicle are in perfect union

if so I’m sorry I bothered you 

but if not I have to ask

are you a total fucking idiot

do you know anything about gunpowder      

have you heard a hand grenade detonate

have you seen a combat medic amputate eighty legs in one go

do you understand what 75% saltpeter

15% charcoal and 10% sulfur can achieve

did you not read Francis Bacon, who wrote

that gunpowder has altered the very face of the world

that no empire

no sect

no star

has exerted greater influence than gunpowder

did you not read about the weapons cache in Weiyang’s imperial palace

how it was watched over by hundreds of guards

all blown to pieces in the thirteenth century

don’t you think they would’ve preferred

to have their fingers stained by ink 

did you not learn anything from the fate of Emil Nobel

yes, that’s Albert’s younger brother, who attempted to make an explosive oil

using gunpowder and nitroglycerine

it was the last thing he ever did

don’t you think he’d have preferred to lean over his desk

and dip a quill in the inkwell

in any case I’ve heard that the Sámis say

that their joik is the strongest gunpowder

I’ve heard music critics lament

that the popstar didn’t bring out her big guns 

it seems anyone is free

to make up whatever kind of catchphrase they want

Cocaine is the strongest gunpowder—Pablo Escobar’s autobiography

Mac OS X is the strongest gunpowder – Steve Jobs’ headstone

Jesus is the strongest gunpowder – the latest issue of The Watchtower

Meat is the strongest gunpowder – keto guru gives a lecture

if you find yourself compelled to invent a metaphor

you need to know what forces you’re setting in motion

precision

exactitude

attention

the redemption of rhythm

the straightforwardness of sound

the devil in the details

be careful with your language

say what you mean

mean what you say

don’t say that a tongue is sharper than a pair of scissors

that love is bloodier than war

that your child’s a little dictator and your wife’s the boss

like, seriously

have you ever showed up to a duel 

armed with a ballpoint pen

have you ever responded with a sonnet

when someone comes up to stab you

okay, I guess you’re even stupider than I thought

and this thing you’ve scribbled on your “machine”

please, use your head

the Red Army killed fascists

the Partisans killed fascists

the YPG kills fascists

where you live not even the antifascists kill fascists

and your guitar definitely does not

I assume you’ve seen Game of Thrones

you know when Littlefinger is trying to blackmail Cersei

the queen, who’s cheating on the king with her own brother

knowledge is power, says Littlefinger, a threat

at which Cersei orders her guards to seize him

but right as they’re about to cut his throat

she has a change of heart

tells them to let him go

take three steps back

turn around

and close their eyes

my friend, she says

power is power

that’s Foucault 101 in less than a minute for you

go watch the first season and you don’t have to read him

or do go read any of his books

or just talk to someone who’s felt the difference 

on their bare skin and can tell you

that gunpowder is the strongest gunpowder 

that the ink in the chamber

is something altogether different

from the gunpowder in its chamber

which in turn is something altogether different

from the president in his chamber

who in turn is someone different entirely

from the workers in the factories

the workers rule the chamber

that just doesn’t sound right, does it

it’s because it’s dishonest     

and deceptive

I don’t know if the penny has dropped yet

what I’m trying to say is

mind your fucking language

economize your superlatives

it’s not worth the bullet

Athena Farrokhzad is a poet, playwright, translator and literary critic. She has published four books of poetry, translated into twenty languages. In English: White Blight (Argos Books, 2016, translation Jennifer Hayashida). Farrokhzad is the head of literature at The House of Culture in Stockholm and holds the Tage Danielsson professorship at Linköping University. She has translated poets such as Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, Natalie Diaz and Fady Joudah to Swedish.

Kira Josefsson is a writer, editor, and translator working between Swedish and English. Her translations have been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, the Barrios Book in Translation Prize, and the Bernard Shaw Prize. She lives in Queens, New York, and writes on US events and politics in the Swedish press.