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.
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 […]
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 […]
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
white lillies
to leo coltrane you’ve filled the house with white lillies so sweet is the air with their perfume i am now strolling in a scented garden blossoms at night and your face fill the space with clear light 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 […]
Persephone
(For Djenane) they take our girls our women carry them off to darkness we wait heavy-hearted by the telephone until the knot in our throat dissolves each instant an hour each hour a lifetime as we wait for Persephone to be brought back home michele voltaire marcelin
birdtrap
there’s something special in your glass and in your eyes i have to be careful not look at you too much i could be snared like a bird in a trap unless i scorch my heels running away from you michèle voltaire marcelin
let me be
let me be i want to live truly the truth of my loving with a silk rose at my throat a black shawl around my hips and a hand on my heart’s wound dear love, i don’t complain it’s just another scar but let me be i want to die with a song on my […]
stray dog bar
through the rain i hurried to the stray dog bar to meet you but you never came tonight i will drink five star rum eat peppers till my eyes water no one will know the burning of my heart or my tears are caused by your absence michele voltaire marcelin
Under A Certain Little Star
by Wislawa Szymborska I apologize to coincidence for calling it necessity. I apologize to necessity just in case I’m mistaken. Let happiness be not angry if I take it as my own. Let the dead not remember they scarcely smolder in my memory. I apologize to time for the muchness of the world overlooked per […]
forever
Night has come again and brought you to my door i tell you plain in this pale yellow corridor years cannot be longer than the days i’ve missed you ah, my love, encircle me in your arms and keep me there forever well, as long as forever can last days are shorter now that summer […]
bonjour tendresse
come it is night i’ve put ribbons in my hair for you to unravel there is wine to drink until we drink our eyes there are mussels and cockles to suck and eat until we lick each other’s salt you bless me with nights of love and sleep and when day claims my eyes you […]
lettre d’amour
darling, the letter said i will conceal nothing i am wild about you can’t you understand i’m on fire missing you last night i was in some dark alleyway in my dream suddenly it overflowed with light when you appeared and i woke up saying your name darling, there’s a fire under the moon […]
stone field
you say i do not sing of joy but of sorrow you say each word is a reproach each a stone you say rest that fierceness erase that debt i see the sky change to fire lighting up my empty bed michèle voltaire marcelin
absolutely
if you should think of me later and recall our time together do not count in months, no, not in numbers count in love and in pain, in tenderness count in silence and the weight of absence remember how the scent of you found its way through my hair how i enfolded your body through […]
one day
one day we will go to paris and sit in a café and drink wine when the sky flowers rose-red and paints shadows on the ground we will kiss on the bridge where apollinaire sang of love-pains on the seine we’ll be rodolfo and mimi in la bohème and have poetry and bread in a […]
the promise
children die do not talk to me about prayer or paradise talk is cheap children die and my anger supercedes my grief remember it was a november morning like any other when the plaster the bricks the mortar came crashing down children die under the rubble of the promise women cry the air is as […]
Tragédie tropicale
Ma mère est morte en couches. C’est un secret de famille, mais il a été mal gardé; il s’est ébruité, éventé. Oui; il est devenu du vent. Il s’est faufilé dans l’air, s’est s’éparpillé, a passé à travers la gaze des rideaux et fait voler comme des mouches, cet assemblage de mots bourdonnés d’oreille à […]
After his departure
What is her name? What can she possibly be thinking about? The first time I saw her, she was gracing the cover of an English translation of Zola’s Nana. She never seemed quite at home there. This was no courtesan, but a woman plunged deep in reminiscence after her lover has gone. Then I found […]
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.