Poppies

The landscape suddenly

disappeared

behind a thousand cares

flocking together

before the minimal sun

and killing light

in the heart of the day

and you then left

slowly vanishing in their minds

a happy refrain

tenderly evoking

the subtle nights of childhood

when shadows were monsters

and stars

a million eyes

openly peeping at you

and blinking

through your dreams

Claude Lopez-Ginisty

Attic

The old attic was emptied

a few weeks ago 

when nobody was present

it yielded

a harvest of sweet broken objects

that had been useless 

for quite a long time

sanctified by time 

and blessed by dust

the only way to indulge 

in a childish dream now

will be in past memories

through the open window

the world came in all of a sudden

making loss too visible

and the light that is shed 

on  the deserted attic

has lost its charm

and the magic power it had

to turn anything 

into some extraordinary treasure

Claude Lopez-Ginisty

Daybreak

They gathered at daybreak

saying they were now

putting aside all memories

of past wrongs

and old prejudices

grinning with refrained pain

they filled the air

with a strange fragrance

a mixture of silence 

and resentment

and when you kissed them 

a warm and friendly good morning

instead of lipstick 

on your cheeks

there was blood

Claude Lopez-Ginisty

I live in the 60's

I still live in the sixties

in an old building

with a broken lift

and a tender atmosphere

when friends visit me

climbing the stairs up

they are silent

either

because they are out of breath

or 

because they are not used

to climbing into the past

or

because they feel like

visiting a cathedral

nobody really knows

from the windows 

one can see landscapes

deprived of skyscrapers

yellow skies with sunsets

that seem like 

a hollywood scenery 

musics in the rooms of my house

are old-fashioned 

echoes of the tunes 

played on the Titanic 

before the shipwreck

and when friends ask me

why don't you move from here

to live in a modern flat

I give them a smart answer

in ancient Greek

and they leave puzzled

Claude Lopez-Ginisty

written for Mag 119

Smrt/死んだ

Lately they refreshed their dreams

with new ventures

gardens of black lilies

and new soft drinks

made of dew and honey

their next move was to invent

a special word for their wandering

and to have it accepted

by scholars in the middle ages

when they realized that their fame

was clinging to poison ivy

and deadly quicksand

they suddenly wanted to conform

but the army of their fellow clowns

had disappeared from their sight

and they ended up

faking a prayer

Claude Lopez-Ginisty

Departure

They depart suddenly

like a diving sunset

in exotic countries

and their memories 

cling to our minds

but a tiny fraction of time

soon their faces melt

in the furnace of summer

with the painful oppression

of cicadas maiming silence

it takes a deep breath 

to deliver their eulogy

and a short sigh thereafter

to switch to another soul

Claude Lopez-Ginisty

Private Fujiyama

When the Alps

pretend to imitate

the summit 

of the Fujiyama mountain

when you start

your pilgrimage 

to the deep North

you feel like Matsuo Bashō

and the landscape 

becomes 

a precious mine of haiku

Claude Lopez-Ginisty

Snapshot

A grey photograph

from the good old days

is hurting my soul

remembrance of the dead

bitter-sweet tenderness

in the midst of Time

you do know this feeling

the frail hope of dawn

when night was gloomy

the only everlasting thing

is this shrine of the heart

where your memories pray

nothing is more certain

than the passing of Time

and the touch of Eternity

one knows perfectly well

that he is but a pilgrim

in the ante-room of death

and eternal life

Claude Lopez-Ginisty

Skylake

Visual echo

The sky and the lake are one

under the eye of the sun

Claude Lopez-Ginisty