Once upon a time
and once only
there lived an unsightly man
and though he was very kind and hard-working
no woman got
more than one step closer to him
after a while
seeing he cannot find his soulmate
the man left the village and built himself a cabin
in the woods
all day long
he chopped wood
picked fruit and herbs
occupied himself with carpentry and animal husbandry
and grafted all sorts of trees in spring
from time to time
the villagers came to see him
asking for advice on how to heal their wounds
ordering a door
or a bed
and less often
a coffin
but the man in the woods
though more and more sought-after
was
more and more miserable
as time went by
one day
unable to possess his soul anymore
wove a rope
and went to the oldest oak
to hang himself
but the oak
who had seen so much in its life
but never a man so wretched
broke the branch he was hanging on
then covered him with leaves
so that no one could find him
right next to its trunk
but
underneath the leaves
our man fell asleep at once
and woke up before God
and he said to Him
Lord
You know that ever since I was a child
I have been careful not to tread on ants
or any kind of crawlers
I have not stolen
I have not lied
I have worked all my life
for all that I earned
inspite of these
I am really miserable
that no woman wants me
and the Lord said
I know you very well
there is hardly anyone as kind as you out there
but as much as I love you
I cannot create a woman so unbeautiful
to love you
but
you can
look
from the dried oak branches
you can shape a woman's body
fill it with clay and wrap it in leaves
and I will take care of the rest
so, after he woke up
our hero
worked on his clay creature for three whole days
but fearing she would reject him
he made her even more unattractive than he was
on the third day
he called God
and asked Him to give her life
and the Lord
as promised
blew the breath of life into the woman
seeing this wonder
the man was grateful to the Lord
then woke her up gently
with a kiss on the forehead
she then opened her eyes and asked him:
who are you
and why are you
so hideous that you are scaring me
to which he cried and said
forgive me
I am your servant
The Lord made me like this
to protect you from wild beasts
but I am hard-working and wise
to care for you how I know best
but she closed her eyes
and then he understood
to only care for her
in secret
and as he loved her more and more
her ugliness began to fade
becoming more beautiful with every passing day
soon
a young villager came to ask for remedies for his mother
and not little was his surprise
when he saw the most beautiful woman
he had ever seen
and she saw him, too
and understood what love is
oh, how she whined that night
seeing all this
the man who dreamt too much
told her the following day
look
I know it is time to go our separate ways
I cared for you as well as I could
and I hope you are not dissatisfied with anything
go with that handsome young man
and should you need anything
look for me
if you can bear to look me in the eye
and so she did
years later
while keeping himself busy with a bee garden
the man in the woods felt her presence behind him
but, afraid not to scare her,
he did not turn around
and she cried out:
I eventually learned the whole story
so I came to ask for your forgiveness
and look into your eyes
and the man
who had stopped dreaming for a long time
turned around and was astonished
to see before him
the most unsightly woman in the world
but he did not mind
so, he cared for her
just like that first day
and she regained her beauty and happiness
and perhaps
the man in the woods would have never learnt
why his woman caressed him with so much joy
if one day he did not look in the water of a spring
and see
the most handsome man
there has ever been
out there
Oct 23, 2020
Oct 23, 2020 at 2:59 PM UTC
I also sew gobelin
portraits in particular
but the eyes are always made by grandmother -
she cried a lot more
Oct 23, 2020
Oct 23, 2020 at 2:58 PM UTC
I saw the first calf being born
how the cow licked its forehead
its eyes
its legs
I watched it have trouble standing up
then walk better and better
in search of the stable door
and licking my dad's hand on the threshold
I saw all this
when I was a child
and father did not know why I was crying
but I caught a glimpse of it
(I only tell you now, daddy)
in the blade of the knife
you used to cut the umbilical cord
and as it flowed
the blood knew it would be touching that blade
one last time
Oct 23, 2020
Oct 23, 2020 at 2:57 PM UTC
there are few of us at the beach
some look at the sky and seem happy
others keep evanescent things under their arm
such as the turtle they caught at dawn
but as it gets dark
we become so sad
not even light can get to us
not even the photographer
who keeps ciphering out in a notebook
and moving us around
to make room for
Death in the picture
Oct 23, 2020
Oct 23, 2020 at 2:56 PM UTC
besides memories
a piece of meat is all I have left
from our last pig
it is in the freezer
it is the right hind leg
last summer during the solar flare
there was a blackout
that lasted for two days
one by one
the fowl, the ducks and the plums thawed
and I threw them away
but the big pork leg
remained frozen
whenever a solar flare is announced
I put it in the cooler bag
and take it with me on trips
the hardest is when I bring it home
I do not know why
from one trip to another
I can barely fit it in the drawer
so I cut another slice
not much
just so I do not forget
how I called its name
and it ran up the hill to me
grunting happily
how it chased mother around the yard
when she beat me up
and as a reward
I gave it the best apples
those for the apple pies
but most of all
how I held its hind leg
when they slaughtered it
and it did not struggle for a minute
until I let it go
seeing each other
crying
Oct 23, 2020
Oct 23, 2020 at 2:55 PM UTC
mother
I never crouched better
to your chest
like now
when you are
grass
Oct 23, 2020
Oct 23, 2020 at 2:54 PM UTC
it is forever raining
I am gazing out the window
I see myself a child again
standing before my classmates,
my hand put out
I am sweating
my cheeks are flushed
the teacher slaps me with a wooden ruler
on the palm
that will teach you a lesson
he cries out
next time you shall pay attention in class
instead of staring out the window
I feel ashamed
my hand starts swelling slowly
it is warm
it is hot
it is the size of the teacher's hand
I am like a puppy that only opens its eyes
after it has learnt to whine
Oct 23, 2020
Oct 23, 2020 at 2:53 PM UTC
I dreamed I was a disk on which
the story of my life was being burned
as I was spinning
I was giving new sensations
to the writing sheet
the chandelier
and the other things in the room
I was spinning
and spinning
and the needle harrowing my memory
was getting closer and closer
to the tiny hole in the centre
where I would forget everything unexpectedly
and be just like the writing sheet
the chandelier
and the other things in the room
Oct 23, 2020
Oct 23, 2020 at 2:52 PM UTC
I was a nice boy
at the cinema, all the blonde girls
sat next to me
running their fingers through my hair
looking me in the eyes
showing me different ways
to drown my happiness
I did not know you back then
not even a window predicted
that you would start to overwhelm me
with such bitter affection
just a dog
which I still call in my mind
hoping he would come and wag its tail at my feet
that dog was the only one trying to heal me
licking my palm
the fool thinking, just like me,
that the lifeline was a wound
Oct 23, 2020
Oct 23, 2020 at 2:50 PM UTC
in a thick milk bottle
a dark green one
which grandfather found on the beach after the war
having inside a shriveled yellow paper
without any drawing
without any inscription
the grandmother's ashes stayed for a while
grandmother being skinny
the bottle was almost empty
so the grandfather put the paper back in place
when he missed her
he took the bottle
put it on his chest
and spoked to her
and when my grandmother had to answer him
he was turning it like an hourglass
and so he did for two years
until he crouched too
(although it was harder
because he was hefty)
in the milk bottle
then
to make room for him
I finally took that sheet
and I stuck it on the window
when it rains on the sea and it's lightning
on both sides of the paper
two overlapping palms can be seen
one of a woman
and the other of a man
crossed in filigree
by a single line of life
nothing else
Oct 23, 2020
Oct 23, 2020 at 2:49 PM UTC