Dear DOMAI,
I've just found this article in a french magazine, about a new book titled "Nous sommes tous des poètes", we all are poets. It would seem that about one third of people (in France) wrote poetry at least once in their life. And not for some school assignment either : by free choice, for enjoyment, for the sake of it. This also counts for celebrities, many of whom never thought much of their rhyming talent and became famous in a different field. So, this book is about little known poems from celebrities.

One of the poems in the article struck me, and it's so intensely DOMAI that I just had to share it with you. It's by the pen of Patrice Leconte, movie maker. Translated version follows it.

Notice: the Luxembourg does not refer to the country, but to the great public garden in Paris. Kinda similar to Central Park.

Midinette
Les midinettes
Sortent des cours
A midi pile
A midi net
Au Luxembourg
Se désopilent
Pour leur dînette
C'est un concours
De sex-appeal
De vieux messieurs oisifs tout à fait respectables,
Assis de loin en loin sur les chaises du parc,
Regardent en souriant ce si charmant spectacle
Il est bien loin le temps où Eros et son arc...
La canne entre les jambes et la main en visière
A l'amicale des boules dont ils ont été membres
Tirant sans trop y croire sur une pipe en bruyère
Parfumés de jeunes filles qui graciles se cambrent.
Le soir à la maison, déçus par leur compagne
Ces vieux messieurs rosis auront la tête ailleurs
Alors, en sirotant une coupe de champagne
Se diront la jeunesse rend le monde meilleur.

Trendy young beauty
Trendy young beauties
Leave their universities
Exactly at noon
No later or soon
In the Luxembourg
Their laughter runs clear
During their meal
And they compete
In sex-appeal
Idle old respectable gentlemen there,
Sitting in places, on the great park's chairs,
Contemplate, smiling, this so charming show
Far away is the time when Eros and his bow...
A cane between their legs, with their hand for a vizor
At the bowling club in which they were members
Half-heartedly pulling on a briar pipe that lacks
Perfumed by young maidens who arch their slender backs.
That evening at home, let down by their wives
These pinkish old men's minds will be elsewhere
Then, while sipping champagne in a crystal glass
They'll think: youth makes the world better.

© Patrice Leconte, in Nous sommes tous des poètes. Anthologie, based on an idea by Michel Tauriac, Plon editions.

P.S.: Translation by me. - Pascal R

Dear DOMAI,
I've just got to share this or I will bust. I live near Boston, and I was riding the subway (which everyone here calls the T) two weeks ago. It was late morning on a hot, sunny, summer day. Most of the rush-hour passengers were already at work. So there were only a few passengers on the whole train. I happened to get onto the last car, settling down in one of the many empty seats of the car. The only other passengers on this particular car were three young women, perhaps college-aged. The three were obviously together. They were wearing rather light beach dresses, with obvious swimsuits underneath, and sunglasses. Two of them had large floppy hats, and all of them wore sandals. So it was evident to me that they were headed for the beach. They looked at me and I smiled back, greeting them with a friendly "good morning, girls". They returned a greeting to me, and then went about their conversation with each other.

At a certain point on the ride, one of the girls, whose light-brown hair looked lighter from being in the sun, pulled a large bottle of suntan lotion from her beach bag. She took off her sunglasses and pulled off the beach dress over her head, revealing a slim white bikini. And she started to rub the lotion onto her arms and her long legs. While she was still at this, she passed the bottle to one of the other girls and asked her friend to rub it on her back. The friend started to apply the suntan lotion. But then the friend untied the white bikini top to her swimsuit, and continued to rub her entire back with the lotion. To my surprise and pleasure, the bikini-type top, which had no shoulder straps, fell completely from her body, dropping to her lap. This revealed to me the loveliest pair of breasts I have ever had the pleasure to see! They were well-rounded, firm, and very tanned. I noticed that her nipples pointed slightly upwards. Her bikini tan marks were barely noticeable, suggesting that they she been naked in the sun already many times over the summer. Contrary to my expectations, instead of covering herself, this young woman made no effort at all to hide her bare breasts! She calmly took the bottle of suntan lotion from her friend and began to apply it to her own stomach and breasts as well.

When she looked up and noticed me taking in this unexpected vision, I was tempted to look away, not wanting to stare. But then I changed my mind, gathered up my courage, and decided to smile at her and enjoy the view. Well, I was rewarded for this choice, since she smiled back warmly and continued to apply the suntan lotion for what seemed like a blessed eternity. The other girls smiled and giggled at first when they saw me watching, as their friend treated me to this view of her beauty. But she paid no attention to them. She had a self-assuredness about her, such that she seemed perfectly comfortable with her body even on the subway train. Eventually she finished with the suntan lotion and put it away, but glanced up at me again with a little smile before putting her bikini top back on, turning around to resume her conversation with her friends.

My eyes had received their fill, and so for the next few minutes I simply enjoyed the memory of that vision engraved in my optic nerves. Eventually I had to get off the subway to go to work. When my stop came, I passed by the girls, stopping to say to the one who had shared her beauty with me so generously: "Thank you very much. You are one very beautiful woman!" She smiled and said: "Thanks for noticing," and winked.

Funny thing, I can't remember if I actually touched the ground as I walked to work that morning. But I assure you that the memory of this vision on the T car will be with me for many years!!!

Jimmy

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