Frédéric Dumont : Three poems, translated by Simon Brown

antipsychotics

or pea soup

it’s all relative

my pharmacist says, again

i don’t think i’ll ever have enough money

to make it through december

so i celebrate and breathe whenever i can

and when i go out to shovel snow

my mom compliments me

that’s something

thanks mom

i don’t know if i’m on the internet

or at the hospital

or at home

or all of the above

i’m freaking out with my eyes and my eyes

take this pill twice a day

as needed

take my hand

take whatever you want

what’s in my pockets

cows that condense your breath

whatever you want

the evidence piles up

there’s a hole in the wall, ok, i’ll participate

daybreak is a value pack

sinking into the grass like neglected conviction

i don’t identify with chronic suns

or suburban dentists

i just want enough charisma

to put on this pair of socks

without help from my entire family

i just want to be able to make my own bed

in the purest tradition

of bed-making

Frédéric Dumont is a poet from Longueuil, Québec. He has published three collections: Je suis suis célèbre dans le noir (l’Écrou, 2019), Volière (l’Écrou, 2012), and Événements miteux (Éditions de Ta Mère, 2009).

Simon Brown is a self-taught poet and translator from New Brunswick now based in the Québec City area. His most recent book in English, This Mud, A Word, was published by Frog Hollow Press in 2019. simonbrown.ca