Vox Populi
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Laure-Anne Bosselaar: Brief
It happens so often: there — somewhere
in a line, waiting room or store — I see you,
& it’s something about your work-wrecked
hands, cow-lick, the perfect curl of your lips,
or grief nearly collapsing your face,
that make me quietly smile at you or nod
as I take you in — nameless companion
in this crammed commute of a life —
& whether you lower your eyes or smile
back, I now carry you along with me,
& remember you some day as I walk
the dog or drive to the mall —
amazed & glad to have you close again,
albeit for the smallest moment.
Copyright 2024 Laure-Anne Bosselaar. From Lately (Sungold, 2024).
Laure-Anne Bosselaar is a Belgian-American poet, translator, professor, and former poet laureate of Santa Barbara, California. She is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently, Lately: New and Selected Poems (Sungold, 2024) and These Many Rooms (Four Way Books, 2019). Her collection, Small Gods of Grief (BOA Editions), won the 2001 Isabella Gardner Prize for Poetry. A New Hunger, (Ausable Press 2008) was an American Library Association Notable Book in 2008. She is the author of Artémis, a collection of French poems, published in Belgium.
For an assessment of Bosselaar’s work and literary reputation , click here.
Vox Populi 
Beautiful subject for poetry and you capture it so well!
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Indeed, she does!
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I know those moments. Still carry some faces inside of me since I was a young commuter. Beautiful poem. Thank you.
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Laurw-Anne dear,
You captured a moment so difficult to pinpoint. How a stranger’s face, seen for a moment, lasts in our mind and in our heart, and releases itself at unexpected moments.
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Laurw-Anne dear,
You captured a moment so difficult to pinpoint. How a stranger’s face, seen for a moment, lasts in our mind and in our heart, and releases itself at unexpected moments.
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Always love to wake up and see one of Laure-Anne’s beautiful poems on your feed, Michael. Thanks for making my day!
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Thanks, Susie!
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**Dear** Susie!
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when I awake and cannot bear to place bare feet on the floor, the waiting day heavy and menacing, a poem on Vox Populi can move me to the next step I couldn’t take a moment before. Thank you!
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Dear Barbara – – thank you…
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Thank YOU, Barbara. I look forward to your comments each day.
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The act of one human being recognizing the life of another is a sacred act. Thank you for this poem.
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My thanks, Donna —
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Another devastatingly beautiful poem by Laure-Anne.
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Yes!
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How very kind — thank you!
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Thank you for ‘naming’ those nameless companions x
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Enjoyed especially the smooth flow from line to line to the end in one sentence. Thank you, Laure-Anne and Mike.
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Thank you, John!
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Another brush with perfection. Thank you, Ms. Bosselaar.
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Gracefully said, Warren. Thank you.
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Thank you so much…
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What lovely verse for this world. You are the ceaseless observer, inquisitive in a way that nourishes your poetry and our species. How fortunate are we to live in the same world, at the same time with Laure-Anne Bosselaar!
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Yes, we are fortunate to have Laure-Anne among us!
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How kind of you, Sean!
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