#lisewine

A few lines after this wonderful artwork by @cloudysketches / @ramblingbubbling 📖

The portrait sings

for the flesh or flame

to resorb with the wind

it's a matter of pain

leaving out the blood

a circulation of frames

in the windows of the skin

when the skull goes dry

for a gentle move

*

be it now or ever

a flowering sight

has bound us in a time

where no one comes from

Dear friends and followers,

I haven't been posting on this page for the last three months as I didn’t have enough time to keep my page updated... I hope you are all fine and I wish you everything great for 2019 💜

A lot of things happened to me since the end of last year and I got such a huge amount of work to do for my PhD that I didn't really have time to log on... I started to teach philosophy classes for undergraduates in my university, and I was finally able to take jazz piano lessons with a very nice teacher in a music school I love in Paris. It has been amazing to see how much it's possible to learn when you're having regular directions and feedback about how to work!

Ni le chemin de l'étoile Ni celui du soleil, Mais la douce lueur obstinée, Sous le gris du ciel, Et le frisson du corps Pour son triangle d'ombre Sur l'ardoise.

Puis, au centre de la nuit, La flamme, à peine audible, Plus simple que l'eau des forêts.

-

Neither a path to the star Nor its sunny counterpart, But a soft and insisting glow Beaming under the grey sky, And a shivering of the body For its triangular shadow Lying there on the slate.

Then, in the center of the night, The flame, almost inaudible, Simpler than water running through the woods.

Hélène Péras

My translation from French

Thank you so much @shadowdyke for tagging me, I'm sorry I didn't reply earlier!

1. Yazz Ahmed - Organ Eternal (I saw her peforming live at Jazz à la Villette two weeks ago - she was playing the first set before Dhafer Youssef and it was just breathtaking!!! also, Naadia Sheriff is my new Fender Rhodes heroine <3)

2. Robert Glasper Trio - So Beautiful (I play this song on my piano every day since I first listened to it... Robert Glasper's cover and solo are so marvelous, every note is pure singing and the overall balance of his trio is just perfect ^^)

3. Terez Sliman - Shahrazad (I first heard about this amazing Palestinian singer thanks to this article about popular queer and lgbtqia+ songs in Arabic: https://raseef22.com/en/culture/2017/03/17/arab-songs-homosexuality-polyamory-gender/)

4. Laura Valborg Aulin - Piano Sonata in F-minor Op.14 (A great woman composer from the late 19th century I knew nothing about before falling randomly on this brilliant recording by pianist Lucia Negro on youtube ^^)

5. Brad Mehldau - Rondo, after Bach (I wanted so badly to attend to Mehldau's concert at Jazz à la Villette... Beware, this track is a true earworm!)

6. Daughter - New Ways (I don't know much about this band but I really enjoy to listen to this song; they also have a delightful acoustic session live on NPR)

7. Henri Dutilleux - Au gré des ondes (as played live by pianist Tiffany Chen. For my French speaking followers, I first heard about this work thanks to the amazing composer Christophe Chassol who hosts a weekly program on France Musique [the French public radio station for classical, jazz and contemporary music] - n'hésitez pas à écouter sa chronique, c'est addictif et plein de suggestions d'écoute passionnantes et passionnées!)    

8. Taksim Trio - Ahi (I just don't know how it's possible to resist to their opening cover of Shakti/John McLaughlin's mind-blowing song Lotus feet ;) )

9. Germaine Tailleferre - La Rue Chagrin (As sung by Claire Gouton, Cristina Ariagno plays the piano. This  “Sad Street" is such a beautiful and evocative song... and this recording and interpretation are just perfect!) 

10. Ryo Fukui - A Letter from Slowboat (this is what I’m listening to right now ^^)

A sleepy but proud trans lesbian on her way from the suburbs to the French capital ;) This picture was taken by my wonderful wife @airshippirateandmouse - it's been seven years since we first met 💙💛💜

I was tagged by @joghurtbrot - thank you very much!!!

One insecurity:

my voice – as a transgender woman, it’s the thing I'm struggling the most with since I started my transition more than four years ago ^^

Two fears:

hurting people by ignorance or clumsiness

not finding the right way to take care of the people I love

Three turn-ons:

a voracious and extensive curiosity about everything

a persisting kind of ingenuity I got since my teenage years – though I’m not sure this can be considered as a turn-on  ;)

undisciplined eyebrows (let’s be proud of them for once!)

Four life goals:

to convince my wife that there is nothing better than bicycle to go around and travel to new places ^^

to play and improvise at the piano (or any keyboard, Fender Rhodes I see you though my purse obviously doesn’t allow me to think about you  now) with the freedom of the classical, jazz, soul or electronic musicians I admire  

to write poetry that swings, teach myself lithography and print my own books at home

to talk about and share and transmit knowledge and interest and access to the things that matter for me

Five things I like:

just spending time with the people I love

sitting on the seashore and daydreaming about anything that comes

playing music alone or with friends in informal and welcoming settings

cinemas in big cities and that feeling when the room gets dark at the beginning of a movie

reading and translating and writing in the most disorganized ways :)

Six weakness:

a decade of top-level expertise in procrastination

I worry too much about nothing (but really nothing)

I’m absolutely unable to take care of my appearance

I wish I could just relax and dance when I want to dance

the « perfect » catholic education, colonial family past and white middle-class mindset I at least partially inherited

I would rather buy books than food and that’s a real concern!

Seven things I love:

my wife <3

walking with her in Paris and think about nothing but the joy of following our own track through the city ;)

reading aloud poetry, discovering new poems, dreaming in verses

listening to music of any genre live, be it in a concert or a bar or anywhere :)

drawing or imagining maps of all kinds - I just really love maps

browsing libraries and archives and bookstores without any precise goal

traveling and getting to know new people and places ^^