Without drowning
The weight of a man on a woman is like falling into the river without drowning. Above, the world is burning and fighting. Lost worlds flow through others. But down here beneath water’s skin, river floor, sand, everything is floating, rocking. Water falls through our hands as we fall through it. And when a woman […]
A dress of fire
But the dress, she said, the dress is on fire.
What are you saying, I shouted,
what are you saying?
I’m not wearing a dress at all,
what’s burning is me.
love grows
love grows in this quiet house love grows with every gesture we are safe here in this sweet forever weaving breathless moments into hours spreading our treasures in the darkened room singing a sanctified sanctifying song when lust and laughter come together as we do intertwining we rise and fall and rise again and come […]
springtime
this is the way that love began spring opened with your name with pollen-powdered flowers and leaves tangled green in the after-scent of rain fish flowed as freely as kisses all bloomed luminous and startling a miracle of the world so beautiful it’s spring again again i count the days the months endlessly passing through […]
love is blind
does he love you you asked does he love you like i love you does he does he you are so beautiful and sad does he wrap himself in your skin looking for the missing perfume of wild roses falling apart in the wind does he lose himself in the jungle of your hair say […]
adieu
for a moment this was real for a moment i believed it but happiness long expected long delayed no longer seems probable even if it leaves me inconsolable shall we put this dream to sleep but before you turn away and walk out into the evening with your body and its dangers your scar, your […]
there is no help for it
there is no help for it this day to day living will wear me out my man is gone taking my heart my spirit and my song with him there is no help for it i travel again and again calming my loneliness with the rhythm of the train another season comes using my tears […]
rue des miracles
he’d come in the afternoon she always left the door open was that a metaphor with poets you never know she ‘d be in the kitchen cooking through their stomach love comes she liked to see him eat and barefeet too what did that mean was that another metaphor she’d tell him i’m on fire […]
thank you poem
with your hands you bless me entire surely and forever i did not know before what was mine what was written in dark ink in my palm cursed as i am with words, metaphors i lose my speech stuttering heartbeats instead watching you sleep in my bed here are my poems take them i wrote […]
fire
disheveled barely sleeping legs opened in lust i rose before the sun locked gates no deterrent climbed walls wearing down the heels of my shoes on rocky roads hours on end so many dawns i would wake you to sleep in your bed these were days beautiful and fierce i was alive as fire i […]
the edge of the world
twice i kissed my life away twice saw ghosts at the edge of the world where half-woman half-fish i drowned my million nights alone in deep sea sounds and reckless waters that opened wide and forever slipping into me wave after wave after wave an infinity of salt was it your voice brought me […]
(birth)day gift of love
What can a poor poet do if pleasure is her true vocation If she knows that laughter is the last defense of freedom? A poet never knows for certain these days how to save a soul from the torments of remorse Maybe that’s why love floods through her chest and inoxerably upon finding it she’ll […]
burning both ends
“My candle burns at both ends It will not last the night But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends It gives a lovely light!” Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) “I do not think there is a woman in whom the roots of passion shoot deeper than in me,” 20-year-old Millay wrote in her diary. […]
a lying shame
She fancied him and things were free Sweet talking and sweet nothing But as the freedom was threatening he needed reasons beyond So they talked of stars and moons and planet configurations to explain their instant connection In heels she swayed where sweet music played and danced her heart away He spoke of love and […]
and then you came
and then you came before the sky was sky and o my lawless heart forgot all save your name and then you came before the night was night and i all breathlessness surrendered to your mouth and then you came before the dark was dark and i so naked in your arms sent sentries to […]
m’anvi
pandan mwen kanpe la a m’anvi di w tout istwa m m’anvi sèmante m’anvi sèman m rive jouk kote w rete m’anvi tonè kraze m m’anvi soley boule m m’anvi pye bwa sekwe m’anvi syèl la tranble m’anvi tout zwazo fou m’anvi limen balen m’anvi limen bouji m’anvi met a jenou pou m lapriyè pou […]
dayiva
return often to dance with me bodies don’t lie and though i travel light i will carry your skin and your kisses return often and take me in the mirror where your body echoes mine your body my salt mine, my ocean where i dive unprotected tossed by your waves who knows what treasures i […]
desire
naked and restless here in this room desiring you i am like drunk on wine with your coming the first time i fed you cut peaches your lips were red with wine and all the time you were talking i was thinking of kissing you wondering when and how your eyes guarded behind a […]
Jeux de patience
jeux de patience la partie est perdue sous ton regard j’ai renversé les cartes et le hasard tout était bien qui finit mal il nous faut changer de décor de cet amour dont tu m’avais entretenue je te dispense d’en garder trace de souvenir éteins la flamme qui faisait luire mon coeur-fanal enroule le tapis […]
I am alone
I am alone tonight The wrong I have done you sits like a sore beneath my thumb burns like a boil on my heart’s left side I am unwell and here like sunlight passing from a pattern of streets I feel your bright love leaving Another night Today I am told dear friend by another […]
Seasons
For everything there is a season, And a time for every matter under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to […]
De toute éternité
“C’était un amour magnifique et extravagant. Vieux comme le monde. Fluide comme le temps. Lui-même en souriant disait qu’ils s’aimaient depuis deux siècles. Pour elle, n’existait que le temps d’avant lui et celui d’après. Le premier si court qu’il ne lui restait en mémoire que des souvenirs d’enfance. Le second temps rempli de cet évènement. […]
L’amour fou…
à toi, absolument. "Et je chantais cette romance En 1903 sans savoir Que mon amour à la semblance Du beau Phénix s’il meurt un soir Le matin voit sa renaissance." Apollinaire Un homme m’attend sur le seuil de sa maison, une arme à ses côtés. Un homme seul, assis à l’ombre et que je vois […]
so comes love
let it go the smashed word broken open vow or the oath cracked lengthwise let it go it was sworn to go let them go the truthful liars and the false fair friends and the boths and the neithers you must let them go they were born to go let it all go the big, […]
Michèle Voltaire Marcelin is a poet/writer, performer and painter who was born and raised in Haiti, sojourned in Chile, and currently lives in the United States. The publication of her first novel “La Désenchantée” (CIDIHCA, Montréal-2006) was followed by its Spanish translation “La Desencantada” and two other books of poetry and prose: “Lost and Found” and “Amours et Bagatelles” (CIDIHCA, Montréal-2009) - translated into Spanish by Editorial ALBA as "Amores y cosas sin importancia" - all of which garnered rave reviews. Her writings are also featured in 3 anthologies published in France: "Cahier Haiti" (published by RAL'M-2009), "Terre de Femmes" (Editions Bruno Doucey-2011) "Revue Intranqu'îllités" (2012). She speaks and writes fluently French, English, Spanish and Haitian Creole. She has a BFA from the Leonard Davis Center for the Performing Arts at CUNY and a Masters from The New School for Social Research.