Hélène Cardona
A Mind Like the Sky
Go deep into the third eye, blue
pearl, space between breaths,
place of complete equilibrium,
friend and stranger.
Become one with God,
alchemical moment. Emotion
marries intellect, mind and sky
builds overnight a house of earth
born from love, the clarity
of being wanted
so much, claims my truth.
Guided by an invisible
thread, become the spirit
of the law, embrace the order.
Night Messenger
I wake. In a meadow
braided with wild grasses and flowers
notes of music drift from a harp.
A penguin is running.
I follow to the river.
He lays on a leaf,
lets the current carry him
and says, this stream is your life,
instead of watching from the meadow,
flow with its rhythm.
Guided by Scottish pipes
I reach the gate
between my past and the waterway.
Like the penguin, I lay on a leaf,
let the river transport me
knowing I’ve entered another world.
Dreams Like Water
I trace patterns in dreams
through beings disguised
undone like particles broken apart
revealing pieces of me.
I pursue elusive sleep
for a place to heal mishaps
the last chance to anchor my boat.
Hélène Cardona is a citizen of the United States, France and Spain. She is a poet, actor, translator, teacher and dream analyst. She attended Hamilton College, New York, where she also taught French and Spanish, and the Sorbonne, Paris, where she wrote her thesis on Henry James for her Master’s in American Literature. She is the author of the bilingual poetry collections Dreaming My Animal Selves (Salmon Poetry, 2013), Life in Suspension (Tupelo Press, 2014), and The Astonished Universe (Red Hen Press, 2006). She also wrote children stories and co-wrote with John FitzGerald the screenplay Primate, based on his novel. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, notably Washington Square, The Warwick Review, The Enchanting Literary Verses, Recours au Poème, and in the anthologies Illuminations: Expressions of the Spiritual Experience (Celestial Arts, 2006), Dogs Singing: A Tribute Anthology (Salmon Poetry, 2011), and The Blue Max Review (Rebel Poetry, 2012). Hélène translated the Lawrence Bridges film Muse of Fire for the NEA, What We Carry by Dorianne Laux, and the poetry of her father José Manuel Cardona, Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire, Aloysius Bertrand, Jacques Crickillon and Jean-Claude Renard into English. She worked as a translator for the Canadian Embassy and taught at the Ecole Bilingue, Paris, and LMU, Los Angeles. She studied English Philology in Cambridge, England; Spanish at the International Universities of Santander and Baeza, Spain; and German at the Goethe Institute in Bremen, Germany, and received fellowships from the Geoethe-Institut and the University of Baeza, Andalusia.
Return to January 2013 Edition
Go deep into the third eye, blue
pearl, space between breaths,
place of complete equilibrium,
friend and stranger.
Become one with God,
alchemical moment. Emotion
marries intellect, mind and sky
builds overnight a house of earth
born from love, the clarity
of being wanted
so much, claims my truth.
Guided by an invisible
thread, become the spirit
of the law, embrace the order.
Night Messenger
I wake. In a meadow
braided with wild grasses and flowers
notes of music drift from a harp.
A penguin is running.
I follow to the river.
He lays on a leaf,
lets the current carry him
and says, this stream is your life,
instead of watching from the meadow,
flow with its rhythm.
Guided by Scottish pipes
I reach the gate
between my past and the waterway.
Like the penguin, I lay on a leaf,
let the river transport me
knowing I’ve entered another world.
Dreams Like Water
I trace patterns in dreams
through beings disguised
undone like particles broken apart
revealing pieces of me.
I pursue elusive sleep
for a place to heal mishaps
the last chance to anchor my boat.
Hélène Cardona is a citizen of the United States, France and Spain. She is a poet, actor, translator, teacher and dream analyst. She attended Hamilton College, New York, where she also taught French and Spanish, and the Sorbonne, Paris, where she wrote her thesis on Henry James for her Master’s in American Literature. She is the author of the bilingual poetry collections Dreaming My Animal Selves (Salmon Poetry, 2013), Life in Suspension (Tupelo Press, 2014), and The Astonished Universe (Red Hen Press, 2006). She also wrote children stories and co-wrote with John FitzGerald the screenplay Primate, based on his novel. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, notably Washington Square, The Warwick Review, The Enchanting Literary Verses, Recours au Poème, and in the anthologies Illuminations: Expressions of the Spiritual Experience (Celestial Arts, 2006), Dogs Singing: A Tribute Anthology (Salmon Poetry, 2011), and The Blue Max Review (Rebel Poetry, 2012). Hélène translated the Lawrence Bridges film Muse of Fire for the NEA, What We Carry by Dorianne Laux, and the poetry of her father José Manuel Cardona, Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire, Aloysius Bertrand, Jacques Crickillon and Jean-Claude Renard into English. She worked as a translator for the Canadian Embassy and taught at the Ecole Bilingue, Paris, and LMU, Los Angeles. She studied English Philology in Cambridge, England; Spanish at the International Universities of Santander and Baeza, Spain; and German at the Goethe Institute in Bremen, Germany, and received fellowships from the Geoethe-Institut and the University of Baeza, Andalusia.
Return to January 2013 Edition