Vèrses Ortalans - Alan ROCH

Vèrses Ortalans - Alan ROCH

(gardening verses)

Aprèp aver parlat
de las patas dels mila-patas,
dels pics dels eirices,
de las escaumas de las serenas,
del monde d’alas e de plumas,
dels provèrbis del beure
e del manjar,
aprèp s’èsser interessat
al bestiari e a la mit-òc-logia,
lo poèta se vira
cap al monde vegetal
per nos contar, en vèrses ortalans,
la vida reala (?!!!)
e tanplan supausada de l’òrt,
dels legums, de la frucha,
del bòsc, dels arbres,
de las èrbas, de las flors,...

Poet Alan Roch now turns to the plant world to tell us, in “gardening verse”, about the real and supposed life of the garden, vegetables, fruit, wood, trees, herbs, flowers...

Let them present themselves as sentences:
   Cal pas èsser patana per plomar una patana
(You don't have to be a potato to peel a potato),


in the form of short poems:
   Qu'èra polida la jardinièra
   Amb sas doas polidas ròdas
   A virar pel camin encalhaussat
   E lo caval que tirava tranquillon
   Sans crenta d'un còp de foet del mèstre!
(How pretty was the gardener
 With her two pretty wheels
 Turning on the pebbled path
 And the horse pulling quietly
 Without fear of the master's whip!)
 
or longer poems, they're all full of fantasy, wordplay and puns that will amuse you and delight your children.

Collection Vendèmias, editions IEO Aude.

The author:

Alan Roch (Alain Rouch) was born in 1952 in Carcassonne, Aude. A primary-school teacher, he is also an author, translator and storyteller.
He was General Secretary of the IEO (1981-1986).