Meeting with Frédéric Ohlen

On the occasion of the first book fair in Port Vila we had the great pleasure of receiving in high school the poet and novelist Frédéric Ohlen who came to meet the second class. We first exchanged with him about his job, his sources of inspiration, his way of writing: « I write while walking », he tells us. These questions were an opportunity to explain to students what could be a poem, not without humor the poet told us his secret: « do not think! » It is necessary above all « to create » with words, but it is useless to « look for complicated words » to « make beautiful » and it is dangerous to be « crushed by the admirations », Frédéric Ohlen simply invited the pupils to take their pen and to express themselves while being sensitive to the music: « remove all the consonants to hear the music » and use the « e mute »!

Everyone participated in our writing workshop in which we sought to write a poem gathering the « things that are the most beautiful in the world », a kind of poetic inventory, under the sign of the poetess Shonagon Sei who wrote his bedside notes in the eleventh century in Japan.

The pupils then dictated their ideas to Frédéric Ohlen, who noted them on the board, proposing or not proposing rephrasions or asking other students to improve the first formulas:

Les choses qui sont les plus belles du mondes

La maman qui berce
Du chocolat au cristal
de Guérande
Une rose blanche
Un monarque à la tête d’une armée d’anges en tutu
Des papyrus faits de sable ou de glace
Du verre qui scintille au soleil
Une main digne enfin de la mienne

We then wrote a poem about the day before, gathering the memories and fleeting impressions of each other:

Vanuatu 2016

I
Un homme sur le tarmac
Ses entrechats pour guider l’avion
Un oiseau de fer blanc
Posé sur l’eau turquoise
Au marché une fleur de pain
Où tourbillonnent des carangues
II
Des rames sur le lagon
La hoola des vagues sous le vent
Sable le fils inouï du soleil
Libellule ô ma Sœur
Unique pour séduire
Le passé
Des ferrailles encore vivantes
Sur des routes aux trous béants.
Les étoiles de mer
Comme les oursins
Se dispensent des caresses !
L’abeille veille sur mon sommeil
Et je dors les yeux ouverts
Sur le vide
Sur ce qui vire et voltige
Sur la mouche qui vibrionne
Dans l’espace de mon sang !

Finally, Frédéric Ohlen presented his latest novel, Quintet, which tells the story of Fidély, a native of Vanuatu who escapes the blackbirds by fleeing his country to reach Caledonia. A historical and musical novel, Quintet is told by five narrators, each voice being a different instrument.

Thanks to Frédéric Ohlen for this rich exchange moment that will have allowed students to better understand the work of a writer.