Long Passé Poems

Translation of the Elegy: On Marceline Desbordes-Valmore - À L'amour - Poem by Marcel Moreau Translated by T. Wignesan

Reprends de ce bouquet les trompeuses couleurs,      (Take back the dubious colours...

Read More

Translation of Eric Mottram’s TIME SIGHT UNSEEN, Part One by T. Wignesan

"Instead of an item in a school of rhetoric, the poem could have variety of articulations, continuity and discontinuity, sentence and parataxis, and an...

Read More

I (a youthsome, wholesome, jokesome, handsome,...
gamesome, chucklesome, bothersome,
and awesome modest fellow)...
does not deliberately court immortalization,
and wonders what criteria confer elevation,
exaltation, glorification, hero worship,
idolization, veneration, or worship.

I go about a daily humdrum routine
me, a twenty first...

Read More

Whether you have come to possess this compendium of doggerel confessions by chance or by choice, should you decide to venture beyond this page, I politely suggest you consider the contents to be nothing more...

Read More

Though no political pundit, nevertheless...

I trumpet the withdrawal
of democratic contender from out the presidential race.

Breaking headline news story
courtesy rumor monger premieres
showcasing emphatic groundswell
against feeble minded incumbent.

Extraordinary turn of current events
immediately enlivens the United States populace
injecting...

Read More

Mama – Translation of Kevin Gilbert’s « Mum » by T. Wignesan

Kevin Gilbert (July 10, 1933 – April 1, 1993) - father of Irish-English ancestry, mother an aboriginal from New South Wales - was orphaned...

Read More

Ne soyons pas rancunier – Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s “Let us not be bitter” by T. Wignesan

(Note : The fiery fearless rebel of Where we going (1964) and The Dawn is at Hand (1966) –...

Read More

When I receive old magazines the first thing I seek as I flip through the pages, I find
Are the advertisements that bring to my mind the brands, fads, and trends that found favor in bygone...

Read More

C'est bientôt l’aube – Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s “The Dawn is at Hand” by T. Wignesan

(Note : In this poem - the title poem of her second collection - Oodgeroo has come full circle, la...

Read More

"The Drowning Machine"



Pulled from my mouth
a string of raw gold to build a tower
built from one understanding
a united ziggurat of words sucked
backwards played before broken mirrors
translated anti-clockwise slow speed all that babel
an alter laid down...

Read More

Translation of Eric Mottram's The Nerves of Proust and Sitting Bull by T. Wignesan

Excerpts from an article, “From space to caves in the heart recreating the collective world in Eric Mottram’s poetry” by Clive Bush,...

Read More

Ton nom - New English Translation of Amel Bent's song "Your Name" by T. Wignesan

Je me raccroche aux détails du passé
Details of our past I cannot unclasp 
?Nos souvenirs le sourire aux lèvres
A smile steals...

Read More

1. Winter

A peaceful realm, time itself almost frozen
	We play mind games indoors,
		Our joy more in fellowship than fresh air,
	Rubbing one moment against another,
		The friction creating warmth in our hearts.
Yesterday's fireplace ashes, wires to roast marshmallows,
	Always...

Read More

Darkness hangs heavily over my eyes
And you listen to the neurosis in my head
Like most misery it started with apparent happiness
Now I seem too volatile & strong willed.
It's frustrating how desire can transform into disaster
No...

Read More

I tell you of a friend who's so fond of everything french
She didn't call her a frenchie when she saw one on a bench 

Her favorite food french fries and syruped french toast
She's been to...

Read More

(alternate title – A bona 
er fide dog day afternoon delight).

A mere half dozen vowels 
constitute the English language 
    Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay
Consonants comprise majority
  
(sans remaining twenty) 
   ...

Read More

Clouds spiral down and curl around to touch me
—not those western drizzle shrouds
baring a soul of misery mizzle
...though I adore a good wallow in sorrow  —no 
these clouds come from yonder bluebird wilds
white cirrus...

Read More

Où allons nous? Translation of Oodgeroo  Noonuccal’s “Where are we going” by T. Wignesan

Ils sont venus dans une petite ville
Une bande à moitié nue soumise silencieuse
Tout ce qui restait de leur tribu.
Ils sont venus...

Read More

I don’t know if there’s a God,
But I still prayed we’d not be seen,
That night we scaled your neighbour’s fence,
To steal their trampoline,

In the halflight the elastic,
Shone like a lacquered animal skin,
Stretched taut across the...

Read More

Does it make you sad too that Republicans say
That no man is my 'brother' who won't make me right, (1) 
That diversities' bona fides died.
Parties punish a member who won't smoke their 'joint, '
It seems...

Read More

Prescribed blood tests
present no qualms,
unlikely nothing askew i.e.
ticking time bombs
nor prone to catastrophization,

albeit anticipatory anxiety
plus demeanor of poetically titled
medical practitioner allays, calms
alleviates agitation exhibited
by dad's and/or mom's

panic minimizes si? no sweaty palms,
nonetheless precautionary measure taken
thumbing...

Read More

Hey! Hello! Fan’O Music,
Get up !!!
Be Energetic!
Come on now,
Got to leave this somehow,
Pour your heart now,
Coz later …….would have no time..
To recall it all anyhow.

I wanted one,
With whom could have fun,
Would loved to have it...

Read More

I really have outdone myself this time!
My ‘God Machine’ is finally in place!
I’ll never have to fret about a rhyme,
Or stop for a red light that changed from green 
As if it sought to put...

Read More

Salesman:	“Can I help you? Yes sir. Yes Sir!
		Well, you’ve come to the right place.
		Our own lineup has won awards
		We lift you up through time and space!”

Buyer:	“Why, yes, I am. That’s a fact.
		But I’ll be careful...

Read More

I’m all out for In, Boys, I’m all out for In
I’ll not consign dear Europe to the bonfire or the bin
We’ve fought too many flippin’ wars to call this thing a day
And isn’t such division...

Read More