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 […]
Lost and Found
” Lost and Found “ is the book of love. A CD of 25 poems chosen among the 74 in the collection is included with the text . There is an intimist tone to these poems and one can feel the poet giving herself entire to her devotion toward love. Contrary to the tone of […]
clair de lune
my love i will give you all i have saved for you joyful gifts groves clustered with flowers filled with bird cries mountains hidden behind other mountains and seas older than the earth itself my love, take the hand of this woman who knows not her left from her right yet knows unerringly the way […]
love is in season
now has love come in my heart love unending listen how lovely the birds sing ushering the clear light of may careless forsythias bloom sudden yellowness everywhere i proclaim our love as boldly in the goldenness of this day my love has the gentlest eyes a fragrance of leaves and grass i’m reborn in beautyness in the blessedness of […]
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 […]
shattered glass
words casually falling from your mouth glass clumsily slipping from your hands shards of words splinters of glass because you do not witness blood because the tears dry quickly you do not think i suffer michèle voltaire marcelin
dream deferred
you bring me your love like a present and say wait to open it wait with lowered voice till the right day the day of mercy some hallelujah morning you bring me your love neatly wrapped with a bow with a calendar attached when you should unleash a thousand wild stars loosen the twittering […]
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 […]
love declaration
In the gardens of my youth, trees were green and love was easy. Easy for me to feel, that is. That was before I realized others believed it was a war where all blows were allowed.
tangled thread
day after day i sit and sew pieces of you pieces of me fasten you close with my feverish hands crookedly bonding us together the needle going in and out tucking in our frayed edges stitching white to mend past lies colored to embroider shared pleasures pin-pricked fingers tear-pricked eyes obstinately patching hearts trying not […]
perfume
Smells can invoke memories, sexually arouse you, or even drive you mad… There are perfumes as fresh as children’s flesh, as sweet as oboes, as green as prairies, and others corrupted, rich and triumphant that sing the ecstasies of the mind and senses… writes French poet Baudelaire in Corrrespondances, while the great French perfumer Jacques […]
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 […]
diagnosis
there was no ceremony when our love died no painful agony no friends or family gathered around its bedside no one assisted its demise it ended as it had begun sharp and sudden like a heart flash it was over so quickly: the perfect cancelled vows i erased your face in the mirrors gave you […]
Sweet Mimi Tango
Some men like the complications of back and forth emotions the delectable sensation of exquisite skin friction Some men dream of secret missions and epic fornications Which one is the man for me? Some men look for mystery Some seek the love of the century Some go mad for this gypsy who shares her passion […]
the promise
the wine glass broke spilling a thousand wishes like my childhood secret and the tell-tale stain on my dress shall we vow without witness freedom the only indelible promise michèle voltaire marcelin
reflowering
the world tonight may end tonight you have laid bare your soul so beloved am i dry branches flower into trembling blossoms as i pass by michèle voltaire marcelin
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 […]
dreamscape
what magic names of places shall i whisper in the dark while you hold me so we travel at least through the night what sweet syllables of cities ancient or new what bird-laden trees in what gardens shall i offer you so that at last i see the world with you walk with me […]
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.