The Geography of Love (Part 2A)

Thanks to Louise Midjord, I am in temporary possession of Annette Messager's Word for Word--a beautiful collection of the French visual artist's work. I spent the better part of this sommerferie afternoon poring over her words and art, and find myself quite enamored of her work. Messager says that for her, "words are images," a statement with which I (as a mildly hyperarticulate, word-loving ballerina child) can totally relate.

Much of her work revolves around love and relationships, a subject towards which I am ferociously naive but secretly (beneath my rock-solid layer of sarcasm) fascinated by. Summer in Scandinavia seems full of couples, and though I am not part of one, I do enjoy observing from afar. Messager's works have this raw, simple, beautifully honest and innocent atmosphere with which I think everyone can relate. And so, I transcribe two of my favorite passages here. It may be lengthy for a blog post, but there you have it :-)

My Map of the Country of Tenderness
the river of your tears
the path of your shoulder
the forest of his eyebrows
the landscape of your fingernails
the cavern of your ear
the monsoon of your tongue
the teeth of my shame
the mount of your lies
the eyelids of prudence
the navel of solitude
the bush of hairs
the route of temptations
the path of reconciliation
the forest of uncertainties
the lake of meditation
the tree of shame
the crossroads of ambition
the river of chance
the landscape of rupture
the curve of unhappiness
the slope of doubt
the clearing of indiscretion
the pass of suspicions
the stones of calumny
the pond of decline
the trail of indulgence
the woods of voluptuousness


The Men I Love, the Men I Don't Love
I love his graying side burns, I love his profile
I don't love his big side burns, I don't love his bow tie

I love his appearance of a young, neat business executive
I don't love his appearance of a young, too neat business executive, I don't like his hairstyle

I love his determined look, I like his seriousness
I don't love his serious and 40-year-old responsible man attitude

I love his relaxed and elegant style
I don't love his shirt collar, I don't love his conceited style

I love his smile behind his raincoat collar
I don't love what he is hiding behind his raincoat collar

I love his hard, clean look
I don't love his hard, clean look

I love his seductive air and his very dark eyes
I don't love his seductive air; I don't love his lock of hair

I love his eyebrows, I love his rich air, I love his cigar
I don't love his rich air, I don't love his moustache I don't love his cigar

I love his little lock of hair and his shiny hair
I don't love his hair that reminds me of a wig, I don't love his part

I love his serious look, I love his eyeglasses, I love his pipe
I don't love his eyeglasses, I don't love that he smokes a pipe

I love his loutish manner
I don't love his loutish side

I love his reassuring and chubby manner
I don't love his nervy and self-satisfied manner

I love his piercing eyes and his furrowed brow
I don't love his small, too piercing eyes

I like his good-natured manner
I don't love his clumsy, good-natured side

I love his calm and poised air, I love his house behind him
I don't love his established, settled air, smoking a pipe in front of his house

I love his bon vivant artistic manner, I love his smile
I don't love his vest, I don't love his smile

I love his smile, I love his oversized sweater
I don't love his smile, his too close-set eyes, I don't love his sweater

I don't love his very youthful and melancholic air, I would like to give him self-confidence
I don't love his overly-romantic air, or his fat lips

I love his eyes, I love his cigar
I don't love his cigar, I don't love his nostrils

I love his slenderness, I love that he gallops
I don't love his horse-riding outfit, he does not fill it out

I love his very youthful look, I love his thick eyebrows
I don't love that he looks too young, I don't love that his eyebrows are too close together

I love his hard-working and serious look, I love his file-folders and his telephone, he is wearing a wedding band
I don't love his file-folders, I don't love his fat wedding band

I love his touchable hair, I love his glass of wine
I don't love his hairstyle, I don't love his overly cute playboy attitude, I don't love his glass of wine

I love his adventurous manner, I love his grip
I don't love his falsely adventurous, office-chair astronaut, attitude

I love his wide face, I love his moustache
I don't love his beard and his moustache

I love his young, affectionate and reassuring fatherly manner
I don't love his reassuring grandfatherly manner

I love his sporty and determined air, I love the forest behind him
I don't love his determined and sporty air, I don't love his eyeglasses

I love his smile and his suit
I don't love his overly smiley aged-young man appearance

I love his big ear, I love his pursed lips
I don't love his oversized ear, I don't love his sullen pursed lips

I love his uniform, I love his serious appearance
I don't love his uniform, I don't love his serious appearance, I don't love his mouth