Friday, March 7, 2014

from Darkness Moves by Henri Michaux


















      Doors open and shut under water.
     You have to know how to hear them.  Then you can learn your future, your near future: today's.  Some clairvoyants are remarkably gifted at doing this; you meet them at the seaside, hoping for customers.
     No matter how many errands you're going to run that day, they can hear in advance all the doors you'll go through, opening and shutting, and they see the people you'll meet on both sides of the doors and what they're going to say and decide.
     It's stupefying, really.
     Until nightfall, you think you're living through a day you've already lived.

From Darkness Moves by Henri Michaux, translated by David Ball, published by UCP, page 122

3 comments:

TC said...

These two Michaux posts are a wonderful match, the comics bringing out the latent comedic genius in the texts. Bravo!

(And BTW Nin, no big deal but in the title of this one a "z" has somehow crept stealthily into the author's name... Now I am a great fan of those always elusive z's, but...)

Nin Andrews said...

Ooops! Thanks for pointing that out.
And thanks for your comment.
I love Michaux--and that z is such a close neighbor
of that x--

Urban Mermaid said...

Beautiful Michaux poem, thank you, Nin and I love the illustration!