Tatiana Matveeva, poétesse russe

C’est toujours un honneur de recevoir des  visiteurs venus de très loin spécialement pour le Musée de l’Absinthe et quand je reçois un mail de ce genre, l’émotion et le plaisir sont au rendez-vous.

I'm Tatiana from Russia, long-time absinthe-lover and for many years I dreamed about visiting your museum.

I would also be happy to make a little contribution for your museum, my published book with a collection of poetry that includes "The Green-Eyed Abyss", my cycle of poems united with absinthe theme. (the poems are in russian, of course...)

The opening poem "Wormwood has a taste of emerald..." has become very popular between russian absinthe-lovers and it is floating around in podcasts and digital image galléries.

My love to absinthe started in 2003, when I first tasted it, and since these times absinthe always has been a great source of my inspiration (I'm a poet and writer). There are many absinthe-inspired moments in my finished poetry and in prose works-in-progress.

Tatiana, poétesse  passionnée par l’absinthe est donc venue ce dimanche tout droit de Saint-Pétersbourg pour me dédicacer son livre de poésies. Cinq poèmes sont dédiés à la Fée verte. La très belle écriture cyrillique ajoute un charme supplémentaire.

(the translation of this poem, however without rhymes that are in russian original)

wormwood has a taste of emerald

and this bitter color will burn my sorrow away;

I will contemplate in awe

the glass of absinthe, like the Holy Grail.

"I drink it with sugar", like ancient poets did,

to forget the world for the sake of new beauty;

and on the cafe floor, in the rays

of green sundawn, let the flowers rise.

La poétesse Tatiana Matveeva

Avant de repartir pour la Russie, Tatiana est allée déguster une absinthe à l'Hôtel Royal Fromentin rue Fromentin dans le quartier de Pigalles.

Depuis, elle m'a envoyé un poème inédit :

My latest absinthe-inspired poem from 2012 was not published in the book,
however I happen to have english translation. So you may like it :)
(again, unfortunately it's without original rhymes)

Alchemy of Absinthe

Vae you, unthankful, cruel, merciless world!

Oh, the Wormwood Star, the Elixir Magnificent!

Ernest Dowson dips his rosary into absinthe,

And Oscar Wilde picks up the Yellow Flower;

And, with the thirst for the Truths in the indecipherable symbols,

Van Gogh is talking with the Stars.

And the starfall is yellow and violet

ant the v.i.t.r.i.o.l washes the rust away:

and all the mirages of mysterious sundawns,

and in the darkness every source of light

is surrounded by the yellow halos in our eyes.

Just forget about the percentage of Thujone:

It wasn't calculated by the priests.

Yay, our Absinthe! You're the enernal gift of Apollo,

And the shining crowns for all the Alchemists!

//Tatiana

Tatiana à l'hôtel Royal Fromentin