Jeanne Brézé
Jeanne Brézé (b.1961-2019) was a poet who won acclaim in Réunion and beyond through her viscerally powerful verse. Her poem “La ligne bleue” (the blue line) has been made into a spoken word performance by Hélène Coré and Sophy Rotbard. Brézé, who was open about her trauma from a childhood of neglect and poverty, as well as her acute suffering from “very painful and onerous” mental health issues, turned this pain into the stuff of poetry. The poem below is a striking example of this.
I Spit My Wound
I spit yet again today
The misery of the cob house
The burning of the gashed night
By the spirit lamp
The bleeding lighting that gleams
Through the hole of the sheet metal.
I spit
The dirty bath water
In the reeking toilet
The gunny towel
But the pain that drags in my childlike eyes
But the cracking of my scorned heart
But the withering of my belittled honour
And I spit
Arched
The chewed bagasse
The grilled andette [1]
The grease of the dry rice
In the warped metal cup of life
And the poc-poc pops[2]
To the touch of my cry
But the awful rictus of suicide in my dreams
But the frozen atrophy of my damaged flesh
But the little shiver
In my eyes cuts
But the life that flees
Injured
Injured
I cry yet again today
Stroked silently
By the velvet of solitude
Which surrounds my open wound
I weep
But the bengali still weaves its nest[3]
But the sun still burns the cob walls
Z’enfant la misère will live another day.[4]
from Je crache ma plaie (1983)
Translated by Benjamin Boyer
[1] Xylophagous larva found in decaying tree trunk such as the tamarind in the highlands of Reunion Island. Commonly eaten grilled by Reunionese people. Originally eaten by fleeing slaves who took refuge in the highlands and had to sustain themselves. [2] The fruit physalis, also known as goldenberry. [3] Species of red bird originally from South Asia and introduced in the 18th century in Reunion Island. [4] A creole phrase used for children who grew up in poverty.