Sunday 27 October 2024

Five Poems by Fabrice Poussin

 




And then there were two

 

 

Unlucky thirteen and they were three 

when the star of darker days fainted 

to shine into another sphere. 

 

It took flight for no kind of legitimacy 

adjusted to a comfort too good 

that it needed chaos to feel alive again. 

 

The void it created still echoes of the deep emptiness 

it left behind as in its chest 

empty of the true care of living souls. 

 

Today another has flown away 

sad also as she looks behind 

to the home of so many sweet memories 

 

Just two remain by the hearth 

holding one another in warm tears 

in their hands photos of their gleeful days. 

 

 

 

 

Dressed of a Girl

 
 
She wears the habit of a big girl 
little still as she stares down all 
unaware of her power in the dress 
breasts of marble upon thighs of blue steel. 
 
She bears the smile of a thousand goddesses 
giggles as a middle school crush 
but ignores the glares of gladiators 
safe in the fortress she built for herself. 
 
Many imagine her a centrefold of their fancies 
submitted to those willing to spend a moment 
giving glory to a shell she merely inherited 
accident in a universe without a care. 
 
Lace and hoses of silk, pure conventions 
she may wear mystery black or provocative red 
but she merely thinks of the rays of the sun 
as she dresses her soul in the early mist. 
 
Teen or they say mature, her age is skin deep 
while the blood flows with ever youthful passion 
bewildered by the attention of a multitude 
she only thinks of herself as another face. 
 
Girl, woman, matriarch, she does not care 
for the images traced of her by the masses 
where she fails to recognize any of her reality 
simple inside, unaware of what they want from her.


 

 

 

In the Shadows


 

It began in the shadows of a frigid winter night 

hopes, wishes, and dreams in restless sleep 

impregnable distances lain before them. 

 

Days had dissolved into the air 

perhaps weeks to those who thought they lived 

around the odd cocoons revealed in the city square. 

 

Nothing stirred as saunterers continued on 

trying to ignore this new oddity 

so tempting for its soothing warmth. 

 

They needed not be united soon in this world 

the energy inside enough to fill with life 

the palace reserved for them in eternity.


 

 

 

Modern Art?

 

 

He finds it impossible to keep his pace 

matching that of a river roaring with  

the storms of a fortnight.  

 

He thinks of the mysteries discovered 

in a thousand years, maybe more, 

when treasures have amassed  

in the white foam of his age. 

 

It is of pastel green, aluminum and steel 

an electric motor rusted by the dew 

a place to keep food fresh for a family 

now floating to another shore.  

 

The remains of a lunch bought on the run 

at the local eatery where time is everything 

try to catch up with this safe home. 

 

Bottles of glass and plastic 

cans of metal, boxes of paper 

all come crashing against the arches 

of a bridge of concrete beneath the Interstate.  

 

With every day it is more wonders 

spoiling the treasures that water should be 

and there these strange cemeteries grow 

made of rejects no one cares to put away. 

 

What an odd place this river has become 

brown as mud, shining of unreal hues 

racing it seems to escape its own destiny 

as men keep feeding her the memories 

they no longer desire.  

 

 

 

 

The maker’s mirror

 

 

If God was to look into a mirror I wonder  

what would he see? 

 

When He looks down upon us mortals 

what does he spy? 

 

Upon His falling asleep somewhere in time 

what are His dreams? 

 

Sitting on a throne of alabaster with Peter 

what deeds do they learn?  

 

Alone with His creation everywhere in Heaven 

what are His thoughts? 

 

Walking down the streets of paradise 

is there a parade for Him? 

 

Should he close His all-seeing eyes, 

what would darkness be like? 










Fabrice Poussin is a professor of French and World Literature. His work in poetry and photography appeared in hundreds of publications worldwide. His collections In AbsentiaIf I Had a GunHalf Past Life, and The Temptation of Silence were published in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 by Silver Bow Publishing.





 

 

 

 

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