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El barco llegó como un caballo volador, en un momento inexacto
Nuestro hermano marinero, del Panteón de los Poetas, estaba a bordo
Jean Pierre Basilic Dantor Frankétienne D’Argent
Quién escribió, apresuradamente, el último acto
Pasó milagrosamente a estar en el puerto
Subió y se fue sin hablar, sin dinero
Sin sus obras maestras, sin una casita
Así es la vida, nos vamos en cualquier época del año.

Kalfou te kindeng miwo, miba ye.

Frankétienne no se ha ido
Está en algún lugar, en Ravine-Sèche, Haití, en las calles
Su inspiración está en el show de ‘Le Point’
No tenemos más remedio que cuidarnos
De su memoria, su invención y su imaginación
Frankétienne fue un genio Haitiano, poeta, dramaturgo y espiralista
Ministro de cultura, creador de palabras, cantante, pintor y artista
Su nombre era una frase muy, muy larga
Y sus palabras hicieron reír a la gente hasta el éxtasis.

Kalfou te kindeng miwo, miba ye.

Mientras vivió, no había conseguido su casita
Fue un genio legendario que desafió la imaginación
Los dictadores, lo ordinario, lo inusual y lo abstracto
Convirtiéndose en un mapou, un baobab. Wendell diría
¡Qué potomitan! ¡Qué catedral! ¡Qué ciudadela!
Parafraseando al hijo del director de McDonald's
"Si te caes, aprende a montar rápidamente
Tu caída, deja que tu caída se convierta en un caballo, tu caballo
Para continuar el viaje", la excursión.

Kalfou te kindeng miwo, miba ye.

"Cada minuto cuenta después de los cincuenta"
Una vez dijo Frankétienne, ya que puedes marcharte
En cualquier momento, en cualquiera instancia
'Galaxy plomb gaillé', no muy lejos del nadir
Un rastro invisible en la cabeza como Valentino o Tino Rossi
Frankétienne ya no está, el artista se ha ido
Sigue siendo más que nunca un Ser nuevo
El gigante, el escritor, el actor, el creador de palabras
Está vestido con tirantes como un gran ***** blanco
No como un monstruo del Dr. Frankenstein. Como un mafioso
Como un ladrón, el barco era como un caballo volador. Es la muerte
Que nos amenaza como si estuviéramos equivocados
Lloramos, lloramos ahora como una madre de luto
Para este octogenario avanzado, para este príncipe de la luz.

Kalfou te kindeng miwo, miba ye.

P.D. Un homenaje a Frankétienne y su familia, a Wendell Théodore
Y compañía, a Radio Métropole y a todos los buenos Haitianos.
¡Mi más sentido pésame a todos! ¡Sit ei terra levis!
Esta es una traducción de:
‘Le Navire Est Venu À Cheval Ou Hommage Au Fameux Poète Frankétienne’
‘The Ship Came Like A Flying Horse or Homage to the Famous Poet Frankétienne’

Copyright © febrero de 2025, Hébert Logerie, Todos los derechos reservados.
Hébert Logerie es autor de varias colecciones de poemas.
The ship came like a flying horse, at an inexact time
Our brother-sailor, from the Pantheon of Poets, was on board
Jean Pierre Basilic Dantor Frankétienne D’argent
Who wrote, in haste, the last act
Happened to be miraculously on the port
He got on and left without speaking, without money
Without his masterpieces, without a little house
That’s life, we leave at any season.

Kalfou te kindeng miwo, miba ye.

Franckétienne is not gone
He is somewhere, in Ravine-Sèche, Haiti, in the streets
His inspiration is in the show of ‘the Point’
We have no choice but to take care
Of his memory, his invention and his imagination
Franckétienne was a Haitian genius, poet, playwright, and spiralist
Minister of culture, wordsmith, singer, painter and artist
His name was a long, long sentence
And his words made people laugh until ecstasy.

Kalfou te kindeng miwo, miba ye.

While alive, he had not obtained his little house
He was a legendary genius who defied the imagination
The dictators, the ordinary, the unusual and the abstract
By becoming a mapou, a baobab. Wendell would say
What a potomitan! What a cathedral! What a citadel!
To paraphrase the son of the director of McDonald's
"If you happen to fall, learn to ride quickly
Your fall, let your fall become a horse, your horse
To continue the journey", the excursion.

Kalfou te kindeng miwo, miba ye.

"Every minute counts after fifty"
Once said Frankétienne, since you can leave
At any time, at any moment
'Galaxy plomb gaillé', not too far from the nadir
An invisible trail on the head like Valentino or Tino Rossi
Frankétienne is no more, the artist is gone
He remains more than ever a new Being
The giant, the writer, the actor, the creator of words
He is dressed in suspenders like a big white *****
Not like a monster from Dr. Frankenstein. Like a mobster
A thief, the ship came like a flying horse; it is death
That threatens us as if we are wrong
We weep, cry now like a mother in mourning
For this advanced octogenarian, for this prince of light.

Kalfou te kindeng miwo, miba ye.

P.S. A Tribute to Franckétienne and family, to Wendell Théodore
And company, to Radio Métropole and to all good Haitians.
My sincere condolences to all! Sit ei terra levis!
This is a translation of
‘Le Navire Est Venu À Cheval, Ou Hommage Au Fameux Poète Frankétienne’

Copyright © February 2025, Hébert Logerie, All rights reserved.
Hébert Logerie is the author of several collections of poems.
Le navire est venu à cheval, à une heure inexacte
Notre frère-matelot, du Panthéon  des Poètes, était à son bord
Jean Pierre Basilic Dantor Frankétienne D’argent
Qui écrivait, à la hâte, le dernier acte
Se trouvait par hasard, miraculeusement sur le port
Il est monté, il est parti sans parler, sans argent
Sans ses chefs d’œuvre, sans une petite maison
C’est la vie, on part à toute saison.

Kalfou te kindeng miwo, miba ye.

Franckétienne n’est pas disparu
Il est quelque part, à Ravine-Sèche,  dans les rues
Son inspiration est dans ‘l’émission le Point’
Nous n’avons pas d’autres choix que de prendre soin
De sa mémoire, de son invention et de son imagination
Franckétienne était un génie Haïtien, poète, dramaturge, spiraliste
Ministre de la culture, faiseur de mots, chanteur, peintre et artiste
Son nom était une longue phrase
Et ses paroles faisaient rire jusqu'à l’extase.

Kalfou te kindeng miwo, miba ye.


De son vivant, il n’avait pas obtenu sa petite maison
C’était un génie légendaire qui a défié l’imagination
La dictature, l’ordinaire, l’inordinaire et l’abstraction
En devenant un mapou, un baobab. Dirait Wendell
Quel potomitan! Quelle cathédrale! Quelle citadelle!
Pour paraphraser le fils du directeur de Mac Donald
« S’il arrive que tu tombes, apprends vite à chevaucher
Ta chute, que ta chute devienne un cheval, ton cheval
Pour continuer le voyage », la randonnée.

Kalfou te kindeng miwo, miba ye.

« Chaque minute compte après cinquante ans »
Disait Franckétienne, puisqu’on peut partir
A n’importe quelle heure, à n’importe quel instant
‘Galaxie plomb gaillé’, pas trop **** du nadir
Une trace invisible sur la tète à la Valentino ou à la Tino Rossi
Frankétienne s’en est allé, l’artiste est parti
Il demeure plus que jamais un Être nouveau
Le géant, l’écrivain, le comédien, le créateur des mots
Est habillé en bretelle comme un gros blanc nègre
Pas comme un monstre de Dr. Frankenstein. Comme une pègre
Le navire est venu à cheval, c’est la mort
Qui nous menace comme si nous avions tort
Nous pleurons maintenant comme la mère
Pour cet octogénaire avancé, pour ce prince de lumière.

Kalfou te kindeng miwo, miba ye.

P.S. Un Hommage à Franckétienne et famille, à Wendell Théodore
Et compagnie,  à Radio Métropole et à tous  les Haïtiens conséquents.
J’offre mes sincères condoléances à tous. Sit ei terra levis!

Copyright © Février 2025, Hébert Logerie, Tous droits réservés
Hébert Logerie est l'auteur de plusieurs recueils de poésie.
Manx Pragna Feb 13
In I came to Dublin town,
Riding one fine morning,
I spied some Johnny Bullies
And I started off a'cussing!

Leave my home,
Go on get out.
Leave the whiskey,
Leave the grub.
Tell the king
To go *******
And stay in his doe-hog hovel.

O'er glens of An Cabhán
There flew a rag of red,
I tore it off from where it hung
And ripped it all to shreds!

Leave my house,
You're unwelcome.
Leave the rope & iron.
Tell the king
To go *******,
Lest he would rather violence.

In Londonderry & Belfast,
Pleasant little branches,
We'll grow ourselves gigantic oaks
Uproot their picket fences!

Leave my home,
Go on get out.
Leave the whiskey,
Leave the grub.
Tell the king
To go *******
And stay in his doe-hog hovel.

Say the hounds are all but slept,
Yet I still hear the barking.
I think it restful pouting
Readying for a real good bouting!

Leave my house,
You're unwelcome.
Leave the rope & iron.
Tell the king
To go *******,
Lest he would rather violence.

Hard to find good honest work,
When of royal or noble;
Hard to find good honest work
If they claim you're not loyal!

Leave my home,
Go on get out.
Leave my house,
You're unwelcome.
Tell the king
To go *******,
And kindly don't respond.
Johnny Poodle/Noodle - Yankee Doodle

John Bull - Personification of England
A'cussing - Cussing, as in cursing, but also accusing.
Doe-hog hovel - Buckingham Palace
Rag of Red - Union Jack
Grub - Foodstuffs
Rope & Iron - Noose & Cutlass
Pleasant little branches - Douglas Ross Hyde, first President of the Irish Democratic Republic. Young advocates of full Irish independence.

Just a fun shanty
Manx Pragna Feb 9
Many armed & many mighty,
A congregation of heads
Taking countless different faces.
As like the nine-tailed fox
Or the regenerative hydra,
Like a whisper from a daimon or seraph.
What an elusive cast overseeing this dominion,
In & out there, everywhere.
Those related to physics,
As like inertia & momentum.
To width & to volume.
Time & energy.
The biological & inert systems.
In the scatterings & distributions
And in the combinations & coalescences,
The raindrop to the puddle.
Islands among the sea,
All with some pulse or vibration
And a resonate frequency.
The chain-reactions at lengths which,
By our perspective,
Span seemingly in excession of infinity.
We are flickering candles
Cursed to decipher dripping wax,
Tracking the days of oil left.
We are pollen to by used by the colony
To construct & fortify the hive,
To feed the young.
Who are we to pick the flower
Thinking it will make us blossom?
To eat of the peach, to pick the apple,
But discard the seed
And rob another's potential?
To burn the bush & brush,
Drain the wetlands,
And sow devastation.
Eviction of the natives off their land
After the destruction of their homes.
What is man not, if not an animal?
What is a man, if not an animal?
What then is an animal if there is not some thought which bares resemblance to such a concept?
And if so; since we are made up of that which is organic in nature,
Metallic, and mineral-
It is not outside the realm of possibility
That other such forms of matter
Could indeed be capable.
Without the pretext of plausibility;
Like Eudoxus, in the disparity between
Correctly framing concentric spheres
And mistakenly claiming geocentricism.
It's a big world we know of
And a much larger universe.
Do plants scream
At the pain of a leaf torn?
Do trees look after their neighbors?
Likewise then, there is such constraint,
As like a straight jacket,
In that total adherence
To thought subjugated to concept
Looking for definition & context
Without daring inference or experimentation.
We'll get some things accurate
Even if there are missteps or failures,
But it's imperative we recognize them.
Thumbing around the galaxies
Searching for an answer
To the question of purpose,
But you're right where you stand.
I'm not sure how this started,
Exactly how this began,
And my memory of the journey
Is like that of the end.
If I were a captain,
If I were a white whale.
Cut the nets,
Ditch the harpoons,
Raise anchor,
Break sail.
If I were master,
If I moved to Bremen.
I'd scratch with claws,
Bare teeth & bite,
Kick with hoove,
Give chase & crow.

Were it that I could remember.
Musings & ramblings :)
Jack Groundhog Oct 2024
A dark clay raven hung at a windowpane
to ward off bright songbirds from glass.
It never spoke a word, nor did it feign
to know of a departed late lass.

I asked it my questions, expecting more
conversation than it had on offer,
but plainly it found me a tedious bore
for it stayed quiet. Not much of a talker.

The brief encounter left me po-faced
as I’d been led to expect more from him.
So I turned away, belying a trace
of disappointment weighing within.

Then I heard the wind, and nothing much else
except the song of birds who’d survived
thanks to the clay raven who hung by a belt
in front of a window to keep it disguised.
Inspired by an old-fashioned clay raven that hung in front of a window in Mainz Old Town to prevent birdstrike. Having a bit of fun, too.
Carlo C Gomez Mar 2024
~
Who can circumnavigate Avalon's depository and the palpable swoop down toward earthier terrain?

Yet, here I am.

Where is your gravity taking me, Kahn?

This building is an invitation, and I am humbled in this sense of arrival. The books are stored away from the light. So a man with a book goes to the light, the serenity of light.

And therein lies the hidden meaning.

But you won't let it become just a building; you want it to remain much a ruin; it's all somehow sinister in its celebration.

Occasional distraction is as important in reading as concentration.

And I'm reading between the lines in a corner carrel, looking out at academic crop circles; I grapple with each texture: it's this combination of imposing austerity and weathered familiarity that you seize upon to make your current landscape hospitable.

This building is an instrument, creates a sound in my head akin to music; and this music remains a glowing source of solitude, all driven by a desire to be hidden but sought after—a celebration of all things lost and unnamed.

Here I find closure by opening a book.
~
An ode to architect Louis Kahn's Phillips Exeter Academy Library in New Hampshire. It is the largest secondary school library in the world.
A Poet Nov 2023
I hold myself at night,
“I do”. . .  distant echoes, awake at night at your side.
The smell of linen, your snores so distant and yet so close.
I hate myself for dreaming. . .
Of someone coming to dance with me,
Even though they hate dancing only because
it's with me and no one else.
I hate myself for dreaming. . .
Knowing it's not you,
“I do” distant echoes, young lovers. . .
Formerly in love
Carlo C Gomez Jan 2023
Trust the sun (she says)
her first rays when creation was young
and God's window opened outward
as a place of worship
born to be breathtaken
daylight imploring for companionship
and bleeding into itself
as it bleeds into the worshipper.

She notices that her own taste
in repeating patterns doesn’t mesh
with the apparently similar
patterns in Drakensberg
they obey a different logic, and the friction
between them generates
a fascinatingly ambiguous color.

Tinctured cathedral of time passing
on its first layer of stairs...
In homage of The Great Escarpment, a major topographical feature in Africa that consists of steep slopes from the high central Southern African plateau.
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