The book of longitude and latitude by Laura Vazquez

Eponine Howarth

Photograph by Elise Blotière

Extracts from 'Le livre du large et du long' published by Éditions du sous-sol

When i crush an ant without meaning to
i look for all the others and kill them
i don't want them to feel any pain
and i kill them
There are only miracls around me
May my hands always be offering
My hand is a miracle
i walk forgive and walk forgive

***

There
a lonely man raises caterpillars in the drawer
of his dresser
every morning he places
a small caterpillar on the top of his head
he goes out
he goes around town
in the evening he comes home
goes to bed
there’s no more caterpillar
it's proof that everything leaves

***

i had a vegetable in my pocket to
keep me company
because i was afraid

i just wanted a form of life
and i said things
yes i said those things

i am deaf i turn

i'll be obscure so that you don't
understand me

i'll be obscure so that you understand

please i'll be black and yellow like the wasps

sometimes the throat disappears into the throat itself
out of simple fear

i'll tell you bad things
i'll tell you serious things
so they disappear

-

Quand j’écrase une fourmi sans le vouloir
je cherche toutes les autres et je les tue
Je ne veux pas qu’elles ressentent une douleur
et je les tue
Il n’y a que des miracl autour de moi
Que mes mains soient toujours en train d’offrir
Ma main est un miracle
Je marchais pardonnais et marchais pardonnais

***


un homme seul élève des chenilles dans le tiroir
de sa commode
chaque matin il place
une petite chenille sur le haut de son crâne
il sort
fait le tour de la ville
le soir il rentre
se couche
il n’y a plus de chenille
c’est une preuve que tout quitte

***

j’avais un légume dans la poche pour
me tenir compagnie
car j’avais peur

je voulais juste une forme de vie
et je disais des choses
oui je disais ces choses

je suis sourde je tourne

je serai obscure pour que vous ne me
compreniez pas

je serai obscure pour que vous compreniez

allez je serai noire et jaune comme les guêpes

parfois la gorge disparaît dans la gorge elle-même
par simple peur

je vais vous dire du mal
je vous dirai des choses graves
afin qu’elles disparaissent

Laura Vazquez (1986, Perpignan) is a French poet and novelist. She lives in Marseille. In her poems, she explores the way what it means to be alive, trying to listen with her body and in that way understand the world. In her second novel, Le livre du large et du long, published in the spring of 2023, she explores the limits of her own imagination. Vazquez currently resides at Villa Medici in Rome, where she has received a one-year residency spot. There she is working on her first play: a lesbian tragedy.


Eponine Howarth

Eponine Howarth is co-editor-in-chief of La Piccioletta Barca.

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