Smooth Horizon of the Verb Love

By Nicole Brossard b. 1943 Nicole Brossard

an urban image from the eighties

when we hung out at Chez Madam Arthur

and at the back of the room

women wrapped their arms around

nights of ink and dawn

calendar of murmurs

vague caresses about the planet and its water

we could have confused words

but there were doors open

confetti in the midst of darkness

gentle ways

to swoon in a corner with she who

put her tongue in my mouth

focus on yes, on the woman’s

eyelids

caress not silence not word

focus beyond. Hold me back

Nicole Brossard, "Smooth Horizon of the Verb Love" from Selections. Copyright © 2010 by Nicole Brossard. Reprinted by permission of University of California Press.

Source: Selections (University of California Press, 2010)

Biography

Quebecois avant-garde poet, novelist, and essayist Nicole Brossard was born in Montreal, Canada, and educated at the Collège Marguerite Bourgeoys and the Université de Montréal.

Brossard’s work explores feminism, desire, and their connection to the structure and flexibility of language. Believer reviewer Kate Zambreno has praised Brossard’s “lyrical descriptions of lesbian desire coupled with a continued meditation on language. . . .

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