Vox Populi
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Laure-Anne Bosselaar: Nostalgia
It comes to you like weather nearing,
doesn’t it? Barely noticed, it drifts
into the room, & you feel as if something
shifts the day, spreading gray all around,
then seeps deeper inside you, like a vague
ennui, that sulky ache just before a sigh
escapes.
It can be tender, nostalgia, when you
recall the tin ding of your first bicycle bell:
that sound forgotten for decades. Or
the crunch into warm August corn, stolen
from a field. Or when your throat cramps
at the longing for a friend, long gone —
for that laughter of his!
Nostalgias we share with friends around
a good table, nodding yes, yes, to such glad
sadnesses as we bring back a taste, a kiss,
that one song we will never forget. Those
moments float in & out of our present, like shy
ghosts, leaving behind memories to miss
as we pull weeds or sweep the kitchen floor.
~~~~
Laure-Anne Bosselaar is a Belgian-American poet, translator, professor, and former poet laureate of Santa Barbara, California. Her many collections of poetry include Lately: New and Selected Poems (Sungold, 2024).
Copyright 2025 Laure-Anne Bosselaar
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“that sulky ache just before a sigh
escapes.”
I love, love, love this poem, Laure-Anne.
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Thank you dear Lisa!
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I’ve become a little afraid of editing and correcting my posts, having lost the entire thing in doing so, but I meant to convey I met her here at this site, commenting on her wonderful poems and regret all the time that has passed before ever coming into that knowledge. If not for Vox Populi, none of this would’ve happened. I am grateful.
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Sean, I’m thinking about closing down VP and starting a dating service. It seems to be where my true calling lies.
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Somehow I hurried through the irresolute weekend, social occasions, and introduction of an Artist I had to make at church whose exhibition we installed most the day on Thursday, and I missed what should never be missed: A Laure-Anne poem on Vox Populi. I an so grateful to realize I am building a whole basis of nostalgia with this wonderful spirit—I met initially her at this site. She said recently to me: “Look at what poetry has done for us!”
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Laure-Anne has such a light touch that she is able to make excellent poems out of small moments.
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Sent from my iPhone
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This poem moved me to tears. Laure-Anne has such power. First came “the tin ding of your first bicycle bell” and then those “shy ghosts,” and I was a goner. But a grateful one.
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A grateful goner… exactly. We are overcome by poetry.
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Love this poem, Laure-Anne! May we all be visited by shy ghosts.
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I love this quietly stunning poem–thank you. I will share it with some friends: it will help their spirits.
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The shy ghosts, “Or when your throat cramps at the longing for a friend, long gone —for that laughter of his!”
Today, rain. Woke and meditated, went back to bed, not ready to face the necessary gloom, even knowing it’s desperately needed for the native flowers beginning to brighten my yard. Perhaps I should have risked being late to meditation and read this earlier. Mood shifts with the truth and beauty of these words and now I will rise and join my old pup, Tashi, to watch the birds at the feeder and their romps in the birdbath in the rain.
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“I will rise and join my old pup, Tashi…” … beautiful, archetypal, loving…
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A quiet shout out to Tashi and the romping avians.
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As with most Bosselaar poems, this one has me reaching into memories or hopes to start a poem of my own. Thus, she is an inspiration.
In this case, I was on my way to a deadline, so initially only had time to read the title: Nostalgia. So much of what I read of nostalgia presents it as a waste, a false look at an old reality, shined to brilliance, when it should be rust. I wondered, would that be the case made by Laure-Anne? Not so, as Laure-Anne shows. Without our shy ghosts, what would life be? Thanks ever so much to Vox Populi, for these moments we can spend with Laure-Anne, building future nostalgias as we enjoy the depth and beauty she gives us in our gnarly world.
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Thank you, friend!
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Oh, yes. And I left so many friends behind (or they just went and left me – old age does that), and, yes, “Those moments float in & out of our present, like shy / ghosts, leaving behind memories to miss / as we pull weeds or sweep the kitchen floor.” Thank you, Laure-Anne. Your lovely poem made me lean back and try and ‘feel’ my ghosts.
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yes, we leave everyone and everything behind eventually
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Captures that feeling so perfectly…the joy of sadness! Lovely poem!
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Just so!
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This awakens so many moments. Thanks, Laure-Anne!
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Thanks, old pal. You and I, I’m sure, have a few nostalgias in common….
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Oh, those moments of sad bliss!
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Thank you so much, Robert.
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it’s always a good day when you send out a poem by Laure-Anne Bosselaar. Thank you, Michael!
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She’s my fave! Thanks Susie…
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A wonderful poem — a lovely start to my day!
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Thanks, Christine!
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The sheer accuracy of this moving po
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Yes, you have gotten it exactly right. The often accidental retrieval of things forgotten that are a part of us. Thank you.
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What a blessing it is to have Laure-Anne among us!
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…such gladsadnesses…
I shall take this with me, a welcome possibility…
Thank you Laure-Anne, VP.
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Thanks you for your awareness, Noelle.
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