Penniless in le Havre.
In the time of my nadir penniless in Le Havre
in the drizzle, I saw the blue neon light of a bar
I met sailors from my country
they gave me cigarettes and wine
also money so I could take the train home
thanks to the generosity of the poor
I had a pencil and a block of paper and tried to
collect my thoughts of what I was thinking.
Found I was more educated than I thought
that is what reading a thousand books does to your brain confuse you to believe that you are better than others.
I also saw my difficulties
and the inability to live in the present.
I bought a typewriter but had no grammar, and it was slow going.
I was given a small pension, enough for the daily bread.
I have written what I wanted to write and have
in that process, lost a few friends.
The trap of selfishness is easy to fall into
it was the simple people
it was in Le Havre I met the good people
Categories:
havre, anti bullying, birth, corruption,
Form: Blank verse
sun rays
soft glaze
tawny
shiny
Monet's
art ways
airtouch
light -touch
teal hue
sea view
shadow
warm glow
spells hope
'gainst hope
of morn
reborn
26 April 2022
For Brian Strand Premiere Choice Poetry Contest
Notes: Impression, Sunrise is a painting by Claude Monet first shown at what would become known as the "Exhibition of the Impressionists" in Paris in April, 1874. The painting is credited with inspiring the name of the Impressionist movement. Impression, Sunrise depicts the port of Le Havre, Monet's hometown.(Wikipedia)
Categories:
havre, appreciation, art,
Form: Footle
A painter in Le Havre called Eugene
Found the 'outside' mor his scene
Monet quickly became a fan
Claude taking aboard the views of this man-
And so ,Impressionism began
NOTE:VIGNETTE is a rhymed five line light verse narrative cameo(a description that encapsulates someone or something)
Categories:
havre, art, people,
Form: Light Verse
tangerine sunrise~
oscillating reflections glow
like a sketch of your smile
at a glimpse of a new morn
a medley of indigo and carrot
as the sun floats in hazy sky
like the sparkle of your eyes
remembering first love
nebulous harbour at a distance
of steamships and shades
sailing in silhouettes
strumming my senses
like the way you hold me
as we waltz after dawn
06 March 2021
Impression, Sunrise (French: Impression, soleil levant) is a painting by Claude Monet first shown at what would become known as the "Exhibition of the Impressionists" in Paris in April, 1874. The painting is credited with inspiring the name of the Impressionist movement. Impression, Sunrise depicts the port of Le Havre, Monet's hometown. It is now displayed at the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris. (Info credits to Wikipedia)
All Yours (March 6)
Sponsored by Briand Strand
1st place
Categories:
havre, appreciation, art,
Form: Ekphrasis
Penniless in Le Havre
At the time of my nadir penniless in Le Havre in the drizzle
Saw a blue neon light of a bar I meet sailors there from my own country
They gave me cigarettes and wine, money enough to take the train home
Only among the poor do you find selfless generosity
I had a pencil, and a note block tried to collect my thought to find out what
I was thinking found out I was more educated than I expected, that is
What reading a thousand books do to you, alas I also knew my limitation
My difficulty in functioning in the world we live in.
I bought a typewriter but had no grammar what saved me from go under
Was a heart attack the authorities gave me a small pension enough
To live on and the time to learn and I have written what I wanted to say
In the process lost some friends and gained some others, but most of all
I have tried not becoming satisfied when so much I see is rotten because
When you get old, it is easy to fall into the trap of selfishness.
Categories:
havre, allegory, endurance, engagement, eulogy,
Form: Sonnet
The Initiation
It is not easy to be young at 16 I was a galley boy
on a tankship that even then 60 years ago was ancient
crewed by old mariners who spent their free time
playing cards and talking about whores and now the ship
had docked in Le Havre.
It was dark when I went ashore sat in a bar and drank
Pernod I think. I didn`t go in there had promised my mother
to stay away from alcohol and women.
Light rain and the street light was sparse like there was still
a war on, a small girl standing in the rain looking like
a sparrow with a broken wing.
We went to a small hotel, but I didn`t have enough money
I got to keep my virginity for another day.
Walking back to the ship it was still raining and the old men
sat drinking one of them saw me and invited me in I accepted
by now I was so lonely and needed someone to talk to,
it was not like I could call my mother from a cell phone and
anyway, we didn`t have a phone back home.
The ancient mariners carried me on board.
Categories:
havre, absence, age, anniversary, art,
Form: Bio
The Initiation
It is not easy to be young at 16 I was a galley boy
on a tankship that even then 60 years ago was ancient
crewed by old mariners who spent their free time
playing cards and talking about whores and now the ship
had docked in Le Havre.
It was dark when I went ashore sat in a bar and drank
Pernod I think. I didn`t go in there had promised my mother
to stay away from alcohol and women.
Light rain and the street light was sparse like there was still
a war on, a small girl standing in the rain looking like
a sparrow with a broken wing.
We went to a mall hotel, but I didn`t have enough money
I got to keep my virginity for another day.
Walking back to the ship it was still raining and the old men
sat drinking one of them saw me and invited me in I accepted
by now I was so lonely and needed someone to talk to,
it was not like I could ring my mother from a cell phone and
anyway, we didn`t have a phone back home.
The ancient mariners carried me on board.
Categories:
havre, character, childhood, cinderella, community,
Form: Blank verse
The Loss of Innocence
At a school sports day I was running 60 metres,
I wanted so very much to win, could taste blood
didn´t quite make it but got a bronze medal,
which I wore on my lapel with pride.
When I joined the merchant navy and when going ashore
I wore it too; no one else had a medal like me.
Girls in bars admired it and wanted to know why I had
such a splendid medal. I could not tell the mundane truth
being a compulsive story teller I spun a tale.
Alas, women are destroyers of young men’s pride they want
to possess what they can´t have.
It was in Le Havre I met my downfall, she promised me
heavenly delight for the medal, and I succumbed; the delight
lasted a few minutes and my medal was forever lost.
Categories:
havre, humor,
Form: Sonnet
The scent of oceans, a certain coolness
of wind over water wanders these city streets
where oleander blooms wickedly
in the ruby assignation of the heart.
An occosional grayed gull, bonded to the Seine,
grown fat with pigeons and lazy for the river
forgets raw Novembers he owned the coast,
forgets the dangerous face of the sea after storms:
her width cut arrow straight at the horizon,
ragged at the shore, like lace to granite.
Standing on the Pont de l'Alma, watching one
lone expatriate gull scan the surface
of this fabled river that travels seaward
to Le Havre, I remember
colonies of gulls, how they plotted
their exodus across our island to the harbor,
or on the pinnacles of the fort, where
no invaders except sea birds come,
seeking shelter from their free lives as if
freedom is too much to bear sometimes,
drawing with their terrible focus
a telegraphy of sharp cries, wings dipping
into the morning harvest of seaweed and shell
among the hooves of wild horses,
the old bones of sailers.
Categories:
havre, memory, sea, sea,
Form: Ballad
A painter in Le Havre called Eugene
Found the 'outside' mor his scene
Monet quickly became a fan
Claude taking aboard the views of this man-
And so ,Impressionism began
Note:Monet (1840-1926)& Eugene Boudin(met in 1858) Claude labelled a painting in Eugene's
style 'Impressionism Sunrise'.Scorned by the critics(at first !)Monet & his friends
Dgas,Cezanne,Renoir et al adopted Monet's title to describe their revolutionary style
Categories:
havre, art, people
Form: Narrative