Madeleine Stratford


Translation of Annie Molin Vasseur's poem "Mémoires océanes"

Memories of the sea
(excerpts)

I conch or craft
oyster spawn drifting away
onto the sea of my origins
wash up on the rock
setting the ivory within
mother-of-pearl of every Japan.

I AM
ocean infinity
universal memory
the little pearl
in the rainbow womb
cradle of humanity.

…

Like a boat lying still
letting water in through some wound
open I lie
winkles and manifold parasites
embedded for eternity
in my navigator's shell
oars stowed away
in a deserted womb.

Sculpture of the seabed
I distil calcic teardrops
and beg memory to move on.

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