Guy Goffette
On ne part pas.
—RIMBAUD
A child, I knew how sweet departure was
from having never left the skiff
of hills, split open any horizon
but the rain’s when it closed off the morning
and that I’d have to find at any cost
the right light so that I could fix the seas
in their places on the map and not
overflow the lines. I was ten and
had more voyages in my pockets
than the great explorers, and if
I agreed to trade Sierra
Leone for Yakoutia, it’s really
because the snowy frame of lace
around the stamp was sturdier.