Derniers jours d’avril
derniers jours d’avril les arbres étaient lourds de fruits nous mangions des mangues nos lèvres et nos mains tachées de sirop jaune et chaque soir la pluie ta jambe m’ancrait au lit je n’oublie pas la misère au dehors mon amour je n’oublie pas l’eau déserte le lit de pierre au fond de la rivière […]
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 […]
50 ways to leave your lover
I’d like to help you in your struggle To be free She said to me The answer is easy if you Take it logically The problem is all inside your head There must be fifty ways To leave your lover She said it’s really not my habit To intrude Furthermore, I hope my meaning Won’t […]
the heart
The heart has fours simple chambers and a thousand complicated doors. One of them is yours. jill essbaum
Absence
Your absence has gone through me Like thread through a needle. Everything I do is stitched with its color. “Separation” by W. S. Merwin W.S. Merwin is a major American writer whose poetry, translations, and prose have won praise from literary critics since the publication of his first book. The spare, hard verse […]
You might as well live…
Résumé Razors pain you; Rivers are damp; Acids stain you; And drugs cause cramp. Guns aren’t lawful; Nooses give; Gas smells awful; You might as well live. Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker (b. 1893) She was irreverent, witty, and sarcastic – known as much for her flashing verbal exchanges and malicious wit as for the […]
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 […]
Fragments
“Break a vase, and the love that reassembles the fragments is stronger than that love which took its symmetry for granted when it was whole. The glue that fits the pieces is the sealing of its original shape. It is such a love that reassembles our African fragments, the cracked heirlooms whose restoration shows […]
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, […]
a valentine tale
he had loved this woman. had loved her tenderness, her passion. the wildness of her hair only matched by the wildness of her words. there had been no limits, no boundaries. he had abandoned himself completely to her. they would suck each other’s toes and nipples, would photograph each other, watching the pictures as they […]
lighting fires
She is always in love. Always falling in love. Her heart is like an enormous room that is always cold. A man comes in, lights a fire, the flames swallow everything and then die down. When there are only ashes left, she shivers. She knows you cannot bring cinders back to life. You have to […]
Des coups…
Art Poétique Il est évident que le poète écrit Sous le coup de l’inspiration Mais il y a des gens à qui les coups ne font rien. Boris Vian
mensonges et trahisons
Petits mensonges Details insignifiants Parasites Petites épines Petites gouttes de poison Petites brûlures d’acide Confiance déchiquetée Martyrisée Aucun espoir Aucun survivant Déesse Déchue michèle voltaire marcelin
ay, mi amor
Mi amor, Si de repente me olvidas… If suddenly you forget me, do not look for me, for I shall already have forgotten you. Si poco a poco dejas de quererme… if little by little you stop loving me I shall stop loving you little by little. If you think it long and mad, the […]
Absence
Since I was cut from the reed bed, I have made this crying sound. Anyone apart from someone he loves understands what I say. Anyone pulled from a source longs to go back. At any gathering I am there, mingling in the laughing and grieving, a friend to each, but few will hear the secrets […]
Nuit étoilée
"C’est par une nuit comme celle-ci que je me suis privé du langage pour prouver mon amour et que j’ai eu affaire à une sourde." Eluard
ti fanm
cheve’l foufou ti je’l chire dwèt li san zong li renmen ri ti kò’l piti tankou foumi tèt li cho kou yon vè lanp li sote depi gen bri kè li frajil li ka kase miyèt miyèt devan li dous kou kann kreyòl sèl sal bezwen se pou renmen’l…. michèle voltaire marcelin
bèl lanmou
lanmou-w libere kò mwen lang ou deklete bouch mwen m’ta fè tout sa m’pat janm fè m’ta di tout sa’m pat ka di pawòl lamarye pawòl bouzen kafe pawòl jekwazandye ak jekireve ou fè’m di sa moun bliye lè lanmou pèdi pawòl lanmou-w libere kò mwen lang ou deklete bouch mwen m’ta di tout sa […]
since feelings is first…
since feeling is first, who pays any attention to the syntax of things will never wholly kiss you; wholly to be a fool while Spring is in the world my blood approves, and kisses are a better fate than wisdom lady, I swear by all flowers don’t cry; the best gesture of my brain is […]
bonbon fanm
zanj mete zèl nan yon pandri pou ti peche nan paradi se pandye kè moun pandye ki fè li bat pasi pala si -w pran lang mwen lanmou n’ bileng kenbe m’ devan nou kwadripèd lanmò jape lòm chache zo oslè kò nou fin kraze poud ti chen mouri pran sant kò nou an drivayèz […]
La Désenchantée
Extrait… J’ai rêvé de Lélian à la Tête de l’Eau. J’oublierai bien des choses et les choses m’oublieront, mais comment oublier l’amour de mes treize ans. Celui qui a bouleversé l’horloge de ma vie. J’ai la mémoire à fleur de peau. Traces de caresses ou de coups, ma peau ne garde aucun secret. Tout apparaît […]
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.