All posts by Gael GERARD

Sorte de lanterne aux joues roses

 kind of lantern   
rosy-cheeked
Sourire étoilé
éclaire les entrailles
lace face
sprinkled with milk
tenderness against the shoulder
the cat wraps around your neck.

leafless tree
le rouge ronge les lèvres
small dry kernel
that the gaze captures
undone hair
with a ripe belly
redhead itch
to be worn before the altar
the voice of good girls
overhanging
opaque glasses
with an embrace
kneel on the sand
face down
cry to be stone
starry stake in the heavens
d'une gymnopédie.


352

My girl, my little one

 My girl   
 my little one   
 my eternal child   
 Carmine back   
 my blueberry child   
 that I plucked from his mother's womb.   

 Then brother came.   

 And I left the castle 
 at the desire of another man   
 keeping only the scattered limbs  
 whose body I reconstituted      
 Fallen Osiris   
 a few weekends 
 sorry for not knowing   
 keep the heat in the fireplace   
 in my useless hands     
 fine dust    
 que le vent porte   
 to the long corridor of remorse.  
 
 Then the bronze doors opened   
 some bloody marks on the cold walls   
 j'avançai    
 perceiving   
 the flickering lights on the other side    
 beyond the tall forests   
 de mes passions en déraison.  
 
 The train entered the free zone   
 the brakes squealed       
 jets of steam
 blurred the shutter windows.   

 A silence came   
 crows were croaking     
 des voix hurlaient.  
 
 The line of demarcation passed   
 I knew nothing would be like before.   

 Some askew intentions   
 could not respond to your requests    
 back at home   
 childish handwriting on pink paper   
 out of sight   
 along a mountain road   
 sharing my sleepless nights   
 stars and moon in supply   
 the dog glued to the coattails   
 without ever looking back   
 j'allai.    
  
 The tricolor ribbon crossed   
 race over   
 in the labyrinth of wanderings   
 I had to find the mother earth   
 mixes atoms ready for recycling.   

 I will get up   
 the air will be cool   
 the heart will bleed   
 the footsteps will be pressing   
 to find the emerging companion   
 the memorial call to order   
 my friend double   
 handing me the crown of flowers      
 my daughter in mandorla   
 my little one   
 my eternal child
 ma bleuette   
 that I had gathered from her mother's womb   
 a day of joy.   


 351

umbrella of light

   umbrella of light   
au vert triangle
of the White Lady.

The balcony path
snack of the day
waddles the song of the birds.

Whisper of water
whirling dervish
drunkenness of scents.

Standing
immobile
the torrent scrapes the skull.

The mountain in ubac
raises its sail
before the rising waters.

The day dawns
the grass bends
caress of freshness.


349

to the call horns

   To the call horns   
pebbles thrown against the brazen gates
the mountain freezes the word.

Equidistant from embrasures
measure thrust and size strikes
without the shadow coming.

There's blood on your clothes
tightened laces
will make a forced march.

Raise the moon
at the claws
marine amber.

Your steps follow the edge of the path
small pebbles unscrew
the thoughts protrude from the haversack.

Bite your brakes
be the brimborion of the ebbing traps
be tall in the downpour.

Abjure and come to me
Callunum of the raw prairies
Offering to seize.


350

Ephemeral layer

 Escalator   
 window weights   
 the out of time is reflected   
 tremors.   

 Ephemeral layer     
 joined thoughts   
 orthogonal order   
 unfurled fragrances   
 list the steps   
 access to the antiphon   
 shouted by the angels   
 strapped refuge    
 crevices of oblivion   
 the chains scrape the ground   
 ad hominem excesses.

 A song   
 and then nothing   
 just the sweat   
 oxen at work. 

  
347 

friend of the abyssal streams

   Friend of the Abyssal Streams   
leapfrog
of life in the heart
do you want to become
a voice among voices
you who are much more than you
you who are metamorphosis
in the reticular pulp
that the hand crushes
to become tomorrow.

Let's cross the ford
full and loose
let's become blood and sense
blood horse
from the wave to the ocean
in the grip of desires
that the wind makes acts
rootlets of a vernacular painting
meeting at the touch of the day
that the seeker abjures and rebukes
from father to son
girl of the times
be faithfully ardent
on the formant of memory.


346
( painting by Frederique Lemarchand )

edge of words

 edge of words   
 at the underground gates   
 weary scents   
 que le vent porte   
 sage renaissance   
 childhood sounds   
 darling presence   
 cherries in spring   
 that the dent croque   
 mittens in pockets   
 of our future   
 under the shade of the plane trees    
 on the cathedral square   
 the bite of the cold   
 atteignant le tréfonds de l'âme   
 gracefully   
 among the grasses   
 a breath on your hand   
 in descent of the sun   
 as in passing. 

  
345

voice from between the pebbles

   Voice from between the pebbles   
taken early
a pinch of honey
on the breath of the May wind.

Big woman
thin-legged
posed as an asymptote
against the heart in unison.

Single presentiment
short straws
gathered on the sly
in the hollow of the weary waves.

guitar arpeggios
accompanied by a suspicion
emblazoned colors
the pavilion of meetings.

Abundant
purpurines lips
from my friend from the woods
raise their voices from among the voices.

All sails out
towards the quivering
of a spring
buoyed by the breeze.


343