Welcome to Haïti
I’m home. This landscape is mine: the fruit merchants, the colored vans, the dust. The heat is mine; the late sun. I’m home.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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
Life Story
by Tennessee Williams After you’ve been to bed together for the first time, without the advantage or disadvantage of any prior acquaintance, the other party very often says to you, Tell me about yourself, I want to know all about you, what’s your story? And you think maybe they really and truly do sincerely want […]
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 […]
For the Ex-Wife on the Occasion of Her Birthday
by Thomas P. Lynch Let me say outright that I bear you no unusual malice anymore. Nor do I wish for you tumors or loose stools, blood in your urine, oozings from any orifice. The list is endless of those ills I do not pray befall you: night sweats, occasional itching, PMS, fits, starts, ticks, […]
Nightclub
by Billy Collins You are so beautiful and I am a fool to be in love with you is a theme that keeps coming up in songs and poems.There seems to be no room for variation. I have never heard anyone sing I am so beautiful and you are a fool to be in love […]
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 reason why
Analyst ask why. Dog say hungry. Analyst say your flesh and blood. Dog say I know. I not proud. Analyst ask about puppyhood. Dog say tough. Not enough food. Dog eat dog. Analyst say ah. That’s why dog eat dog. Dog say thanks. Dog pay. Dog go home. Dog hungry. Dog eat dog. Adam Taylor
Sonnet
by June Jordan Supposing we could just go on and on as two voracious in the days apart as well as when we side by side (the many ways we do that) well! I would consider then perfection possible, or else worthwhile to think about. Which is to say I guess the costs of long […]
absence
i say i am fragile brittle like glass today i say i miss you you tell me there are 8 million people in the city 30 i see each day why is it then your absence turns my heart into a wasteland? michèle voltaire marcelin
Intimates
Don’t you care for my love? she said bitterly. I handed her the mirror, and said: Please address these questions to the proper person! Please make all requests to head-quarters! In all matters of emotional importance please approach the supreme authority direct! So I handed her the mirror. And she would have broken it over […]
Poem for the Men of Our Time
Beloved life, my death takes its time. What shall I tell my man, What trip shall I propose? Kings, ministers And all of you politicians, What word beside gold and shadow Stays in your ears? Beside your capacity What do you know Of men’s souls? Gold, conquest, profit, success And our bones And our people’s […]
C’est la vie
On summer afternoons I sit Quiescent by you in the park, And idly watch the sunbeams gild And tint the ash-trees’ bark. Or else I watch the squirrels frisk And chaffer in the grassy lane; And all the while I mark your voice Breaking with love and pain. I know a woman who would give […]
some days
providence is sweet to me some days when i come in rush and bliss a morning prayer on my lips my body to claim your soul i know that you hear my song some days there are trees that stand for love filled with birds and leaves afire there’s a moon glowing above pink skies […]
insomnia
night flows endlessly between my eyelids refusing to enter i cannot sleep and have started to count lovers instead of sheep some names i do declare escape me and some i will confess blessed me some flung their love at me while others slipped it behind me gentle like a shadow and once i found […]
a different sky
last night i saw the moon and a lone star magnificent and new and i did not call you to sing its beauty your life so separate from mine we do not even share the darkness of the sky michèle voltaire marcelin
The woman in my bed….
I woke up with a French tune this morning: La femme qui est dans mon lit…The woman in my bed. Written by Moustaki for Edith Piaf when they were lovers, it is a song of praise for the older woman (she was nearly 20 years older than him). It brought back memories of one of […]
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.