«Un Rhône qui fleurit»: poems by Jean-Marie Claret

Les lettres romandes du mardi - Jonas Follonier

A native of Fully in the Valais, Jean-Marie Claret combines two great loves: gastronomy and literature. Creator and host of gastro-literary cellars, he has several books to his credit, including the poetry collection A blossoming Rhône.

The Rhône is one of the red threads linking words and tastes, sounds and flavors. The Rhône, the river of his home canton, is the context, if not the object, of his book. A blossoming Rhône, published by Editions à la Carte. The poems that make up the book are all recollections gathered by theme, giving rise to reflections that are sometimes hermetic, but always aesthetic.

«Weak with pride, distraught, panting
In the twilight of this night of atonement
Our refugee bodies on the edge of oblivion.
The day and its diabolical serenity
Separate us in its merciless light.
And those tears of love set my heart on fire
Our last night comes to an end
Dreams are sometimes imperfect».»

This poem, One Night, represents the beauty of free verse, even in the eyes of a reader who, like the author of this article, is not necessarily enthusiastic about this feature of contemporary poetry. Where metrical rigor and the elegance of rhyme are lacking, the power of alliteration and the search for the right word remain.

Naturally, anyone who holds the collection in his or her hands will be less carried away by a particular text; it's enough that the intuitions it contains fail to meet with the reader's approval or even understanding for him or her to forget the poem on the spot and move on to another. This is the advantage of classical poetry, where you can always be carried away by musicality and repetition.

However, Jean-Marie Claret seems to have chosen a form appropriate to the content he wishes to share with his readership. Free verse suits this kind of free man. And it allows what’A blossoming Rhône contains something even more interesting: the emergence of a style. Yes, Claret's style is unique, and the sincerity that emanates from it is not without a certain emotion.

«The blue of the sky crushed like the white flame
From a mountain paralyzed by cold
Fire up my heart and conscience
Sad look from her good bitter grey eyes
Begs me not to lose the taste of friendship.
Sparkling with sadness like a white tear
Under the scaffold of builders trampling on its layer
I ask mercy of the moon's harsh light
Which painfully reflects on his bumpy forehead
My call for help»

These intimate words come from someone who likes to think of himself as a «contemplative contrarian». We can imagine him, this Valaisan who now divides his life between Brittany and the Swiss Jura, plunging back into the Vieux Pays of his youth, contemplating the moon. We can also see him, as summer approaches, soon climbing into the mountains, holding Jean-Marie Claret's collection under his arm.

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © Jonas Follonier for Le Regard Libre