from My First Book in English

Julien Green

It is useless to tell me that a photograph does not lie, that it is an indisputable likeness of life itself; I can see no more in a photograph than the reflection of an absent person; And many of the novels we read are nothing but photograph albums.

from Anthologie de la poèsie française du xx° siècle

Claude Roy

Mais il faut qu'un poète les transmue en poésie pour que ce qui était indicible devienne dicible et dit.

°

But a poet has to transform in poetry so that what was unsayable becomes sayable and said.

Mouthwash

Kate Nash

This is my face
Covered in freckles
With the occasional spot
And some veins

This is my body
Covered in skin
And not all of it
You can see

And, this, is my mind
It goes over and over
The same old lines

And, this, is my brain
It's torturous analytical thoughts
Make me go insane

And I use mouthwash
Sometimes I floss
I got a family
And I drink cups of tea

I've got nostalgic pavements
I've got familiar faces
I've got a mixed-up memory
And I've got favourite places

And I'm singing "oh oh" on a Friday night
And I'm singing "oh oh" on a Friday night
And I'm singing "oh oh" on a Friday night
And I hope everything's gonna be alright
And I'm singing "oh oh" on a Friday night
And I hope everything's gonna be alright

This is my face
I've got a thousand opinions
And not the time to explain

And this is my body
And no matter how you try and disable it
Yes I'll still be here

And, this, is my mind
And although you try to infringe
You cannot confine

And, this, is my brain
And even if you try and hold me back
There's nothing that you can gain

'Cause I use mouthwash
Sometimes I floss
I've got a family
And I drink cups of tea

I've got nostalgic pavements
I've got familiar faces
I've got a mixed-up memory
And I've got favourite places

I'm singing "oh oh" on a Friday night
And I'm singing "oh oh" on a Friday night
And I'm singing "oh oh" on a Friday night
And I hope everything's gonna be alright
And I'm singing "oh oh" on a Friday night
And I hope everything's gonna be alright
Oh oh oh oh oh oh:


courtesy

Between Degas and Mallarme

Degas: J'ai pourtant beaucoup d'idées.
Mallarme: Ce n'est pas avec les idées qu'on ecrit des poèmes, c'est avec des mots.

°

Degas: Though I have many ideas.
Mallarme: It is not with ideas that we write poems. It's with words.