oubliette
my car hears my confessions
my secrets, my memories
the rearview mirror catches
bits of half-forgotten conversations
still lingering in the reflection
je sens une ivresse dans tes yeux
no i’m not a fan of shakespeare
but i do like broadway
and stargazing
the stars are bright tonight
along the freeway
forming patterns and constellations
that you traced across my skin
with your finger
there’s the big or little dipper
just beneath your shoulder
and cassiopeia on your hand
j’ai oublié l’ivresse qui m’anéantit
the radio drowns out
the empty pressing silence
of my solitude, my isolation
silences then were not uncomfortable
and soon became respite from conversation
i can’t understand what changed
in our pleasant intercourse
and you, so distant
j’ai oublié et j’oublie encore
oubliette comes from the french, literally refering to a prison people were put in to be forgotten. I used it to refer to the prison of memories and being unable to forget. This poem was something I wrote in the midst of a deteriorating relationship. I think, looking back, that it was my way of coming to terms with the fading connection with my then boyfriend. I wanted to portray the degeneration of relationships from that original fascination to connection, both physical and emotional, to disconnection. Really though, the poem has three different stories. The normal text is the present, thinking back on a relationship that failed and connecting the memories to a drive on the freeway. The italicized text tells the memories at the different stages of the relationship. The french text expresses a desire to forget the feeling of the relationship, but being unable to, even though one says hey have forgotten. I'd translate the french, but that takes some of the magic out of it.
my secrets, my memories
the rearview mirror catches
bits of half-forgotten conversations
still lingering in the reflection
je sens une ivresse dans tes yeux
no i’m not a fan of shakespeare
but i do like broadway
and stargazing
the stars are bright tonight
along the freeway
forming patterns and constellations
that you traced across my skin
with your finger
there’s the big or little dipper
just beneath your shoulder
and cassiopeia on your hand
j’ai oublié l’ivresse qui m’anéantit
the radio drowns out
the empty pressing silence
of my solitude, my isolation
silences then were not uncomfortable
and soon became respite from conversation
i can’t understand what changed
in our pleasant intercourse
and you, so distant
j’ai oublié et j’oublie encore
oubliette comes from the french, literally refering to a prison people were put in to be forgotten. I used it to refer to the prison of memories and being unable to forget. This poem was something I wrote in the midst of a deteriorating relationship. I think, looking back, that it was my way of coming to terms with the fading connection with my then boyfriend. I wanted to portray the degeneration of relationships from that original fascination to connection, both physical and emotional, to disconnection. Really though, the poem has three different stories. The normal text is the present, thinking back on a relationship that failed and connecting the memories to a drive on the freeway. The italicized text tells the memories at the different stages of the relationship. The french text expresses a desire to forget the feeling of the relationship, but being unable to, even though one says hey have forgotten. I'd translate the french, but that takes some of the magic out of it.