Jacques Prévert ( )

Breakfast

He poured the coffee
Into the cup
He poured the milk
Into the cup of coffee
He put the sugar
Into the coffee with milk
With a small spoon
He stirred it
He drank the coffee
And he put down the cup
Without speaking to me
He lighted a cigarette
He made circles
With the smoke
He put the ash
Into the ashtray
Without a word
Without looking at me
He got up
He put a hat on his head
He put on his raincoat
As it was raining
And he left
Into the rain
Without speaking to me
Without looking me
And I put
My head into my hands
And I cried.

Note: Thanks to Roshna for a comment elsewhere.

*****

Déjeuner du matin

Il a mis le café
Dans la tasse
Il a mis le lait
Dans la tasse de café
Il a mis le sucre
Dans le café au lait
Avec la petite cuiller
Il a tourné
Il a bu le café au lait
Et il a reposé la tasse
Sans me parler
Il a allumé
Une cigarette
Il a fait des ronds
Avec la fumée
Il a mis les cendres
Dans le cendrier
Sans me parler
Sans me regarder
Il s'est levé
Il a mis
Son chapeau sur sa tête
Il a mis
Son manteau de pluie
Parce qu'il pleuvait
Et il est parti
Sous la pluie
Sans une parole
Sans me regarder
Et moi j'ai pris
Ma tête dans ma main
Et j'ai pleuré.

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Alicante

An orange on the table
Your robe on the rug
And you in my bed
Soft present of the present
The freshness of the night
The heat of my life.

*****

Une orange sur la table
Ta robe sur le tapis
Et toi dans mon lit
Doux présent du présent
Fraîcheur de la nuit
Chaleur de ma vie.

Michelle Grangaud ( )

Love act, totally nude girls

Sex is generally softer,
sensitive and ticklish
than the rest of the body.

Soon it will be summer,
the sky is pale and misty,
in a meadow of flowers,
next to the pond,
he is lying around,
legs apart, hands under head.

In sex, humans and animals are alike.

Golden-helix snails,
slithering on slimy trails
find each other, getting close,
bite each other,
penetrate each other,
and for hours copulate.

Making love is all natural.

The statue standing
near the swimming-pool
has no head, no arms,
but a rounded stomach
and big pointed-breasts
make it look strangely alive.

Shape number one, when excited
swells up, hardens, rears up,
changing its shape.
Metal-fringed concrete beam
lifted by the crane
points towards the sky.

It is arranged
to penetrate shape number two.
Within the view of a long dark-porch
a glass-pyramid at the end
can be seen.

Shape number one penetrates
shape number two and
rubs it from inside.
The rosebush forms
a scarlet hedge along the balcony.
Rubbing causes
voluptuous excitement.

In the town center,
the poster says:NUDE GIRLS, LOVE ACT,
TOTALLY NUDE GIRLS ON STAGE,
THE CONDOR.

Pleasure stimulated
and multiplied
by fantasies.

Claude Esteban ( )

It will be evening,
at the same time of the evening
the doves will be coming
to sit on the branches

someone would say:
how tall the grass has grown
come, let us sit down
and tell a slightly daft story

to pass the time,
of a king who thought
he knew everything
and lost everything,

someone would say:
it is enough of a sad story
forget them,
as the sun slowly sets in.