whose memory has been washed away in
the banks of the flood?
in the wandering waters,
lightning and thunder and the fire of volcanoes
the passions of the earth and its quakes
a mark of memory,
the longing for age-old harmony.
to join your voice to a thousand other voices
to refuse serendipity or chance encounters
you become a body in motion
moved by your replicas and your anonymity
you no longer want to know
that you have a secret garden
as long as the march last.
Ghostly black panther
Augment the thirst of my dreams
My moody soul in the dark
The tiger’s circular path
Behind the poem’s bars
The welts of love’s river
Rilke’s spirit in his poem.
Season of algae and the sea
Anemone of evening
Agate of my blood
Weave the tissue of my life
Of my nights and dreams.
*Sylvestre Clancier (born in Limoges, France in 1946) is a poet and essayist. As teen ager he was a follower of Surrealism and
Grand Jeu, and participate to “avant-gardes” movements (TXT, Generation,
Textruction) during the sixties and early seventies. His poetry has been
translated in many languages. He has published more than thirty books and
created with painters many artist’s books. His recents poetry books are: “Anima Mia”, “Dans le noir & A travers
les âges”, “Corps à Corps”, “Le Témoin incertain”, “La Source et le royaume”, “Par ces voix de fougèrers qui
te sont familières”, “Le Discobole du futur”, “Un regard infini”. His essay, “La
Voie des poètes”, brings new focus on Artaud, Daumal, Michaux and others
famous french poets. He is honored in many anthologies. An essay, “Le Voyage et
la Demeure”, about his poetry world as been written by Christine Bini and
published by “L’herbe qui tremble” in 2016. All his poetry books are being
reprinted by “la rumeur libre” publishing house. He was, for years, PEN
International board member and is yet chairman emerite of French PEN Club,
president of Mallarmé Academy and Poetry House (Maison de Poésie) in Paris.