Merci Nathalie

Nathalie Le Breton's musical poetry isn't meant to be just read but experienced. 

Her work reminds me of what E.M. Forster wrote in A Room With a View:

          "I only wish the poets would say this too: love is of the body; not the body, but of 

           the body. Ah! the misery that would be saved if we confessed that!"

Le Breton's verse, which is spiritual, is of the body too. Her words don't merely sit on the page: They roll, leap and twirl...and invite us to do the same.

Many thanks to her for letting me share four of her poems with you.

Erzulie

 

Once I met a ghost.

She wore a purple hat

and spoke all languages.

 

She also spoke in tongues.

dancing island tongues,

swirling tongues of joy and

pounding tongues of sorrow.

 

She touched her silver heart.

She told the old story

of women and children,

and she cried.

 

Then there was our goodbye.

Some ghosts come only once

and leave their heart behind.

 

 

 

Thrill

 

I never liked them.

Carousel or Ferris wheel,

name them all,

I never liked them.

But I too wanted to be thrilled,

I too wanted to feel under my skin

the fragile miracle,

and abandon myself in it

and lose the mind

lose the routine

live and feel.

 

One might say I had superior ambitions.

Maybe, but I have been forgiven.

 

So I threw away my shoes,

ran up the green hill

where butterflies flew in circles,

and I danced with them,

in their golden carousel

flapping my own large wings

in a blue sky no Ferris wheel could reach.

I was spinning,

my body electric,

then I rolled down the hill

buzzing like a bee

filled with ecstasy.

 

 

 

Mossy Teachings

 

 "I hold tight to the vision that someday soon we will find the courage of self-restraint, the humility to live like mosses.” Robin Wall Kimmerer - Gathering Moss.

 

Who knows what moss would say

if only she could speak.

She would tell you stories of light

and love stories of rain.

She might also tell you of her own

 

improbability,

of her rootless travels to the little spaces

and how she had to change

when the winds turned around.

She might then remind you of your own

 

improbability,

tell you to take little

and give more in return,

Whisper there is still time

to let yourself glitter.

 

 

  

For You

 

Come sit with me,

We’ll smell jasmine

Spell the word wind

Eat strawberries.

 

You’ll kiss the sun

I’ll watch the bees

I’ll sing a song

You’ll smile at me.

 

Come sit with me,

We’ll drink iced tea

Spell the word sweet

Wiggle our feet.

 

My Darling you could be,

Come sit with me.

About the author: 

Nathalie Le Breton is a French native speaker who has relocated in the Pacific Northwest. She enjoys exploring a different language as a form of personal discovery and melodic expression. She also enjoys reading poetry and children's books, knitting, drinking tea, and walking slowly through the seasons.