My life is in contraction. / She tries to expel me / elsewhere than in herself. / She won’t succeed / without tearing her opening. / I resist, I delay. When I am born / it’s the same every time,” writes Daniel Bélanger. It was precisely the day after one of his new births that The duty the encounter. The artist will launch his tenth album in October, but it is rather poetry that brings us together, under the leafy arches of the lush alleys of Mile-Ex.
Under his arm, fresh off the press, Heavy weights, a collection of poetry published by Herbes Rouges, around which we sit ceremoniously when we arrive at the café, as with a newborn baby. “My love of Red Herbs dates back to the 1970s,” he admits with a smirk, aware of betraying his age, before adding: “Of course finding myself there gives me the impression of getting a seal of recognition. »
Her career has been honored with many recognitions, but this one takes on a special character: “When I met the writer Roxane [Desjardins] the first time, I understood that I was entering an environment to which I am not accustomed. At first, I was very intimidated, but Roxane works very kindly. I felt like she was helping me with my homework. »
Poetry, an unmarked path
We recognize intrinsic qualities in the texts of his musical compositions, but it is important for Daniel Bélanger to make a distinction between poetry and song: “The poem is single and the words are married to the music. » This refreshing formula illustrates a difference which put the poet on the hats of wheels: « Poetry offers me a freedom which makes me feel good. I go where the idea takes me without being dictated by the melody. In music, by dint of making songs, I managed to find a certain freedom of writing, but with poetry, it happened automatically. »
The singer-songwriter, accustomed to meeting his audience when an album is released, finds himself in unfamiliar territory here: “It is certain that with my songs, contact is established with the public and I am fulfilled . But what will happen with this collection, I let go. We’ll see. “When we talk about the idea of a public reading, he dives into his memories:” I have images of outstanding readings, with beatniks perched on top of a stepladder, in a big room where it smells of sweat. “To all good intentions…
Throughout the discussion, he is surprised by certain interpretations and emotions aroused by his poems: “That’s what I like when my work is delivered to the public: to learn what I have done. » As if his creation were the result of an immersion outside the world, it seems to him necessary to let time do its work: « I work so much on intuition. I will probably get to know my Heavy weights in two years. Like when I release an album, I learn a lot about what I do from other people’s perception. »
Between the desire to “take part” and that of “erasing oneself” to bear witness to the living, Daniel Bélanger and his work dialogue: “Writing to feel /alive. From then on apprehending my own absence and immediately / ceasing to write. Write for / be reborn. Cursed be the /paradox of non-existence. / I remember this dog / trapped on the ice, / irresolute before the insolvent: / if he moves, he falls, / if he stays, he freezes. »
Road trip to the slaughterhouse
Heavy weights takes off in the blind spot of a truck loaded with pigs: “Yesterday on the highway, I overtook / a truck loaded with pigs. He was heading / visibly straight to the slaughterhouse. This image upsets the poetic figure and pursues it, fueling many paradoxes along the way, including the reconciliation of our food relationship with the animal world and our desire to humbly fit into the order of the living.
Carried by a spare writing, the collection is nourished by contemplative moments and flights that recall the floating of dream better. A few sketches make fun of the absurdity of existence: “The cedars sprinkled /with snow sparkle. / I may live in a village / miniature under a Christmas tree. / I get on the train this morning hoping / not to pass on a loop / in front of my house. »
Often, we are immersed in the calm setting of the world, but this truck loaded with pigs haunts the collection: “Sometimes, passing a convoy, / I wonder which of us / two will finish first / at the slaughterhouse. We won’t escape our own death, but can humanity avoid the slaughterhouse?
“I experienced the nuclear threat and I feel like I’ve come to my fourth end of the world. Doesn’t mean I don’t take it seriously. I grew up with this imagination, and I tell myself that it must shape our minds, but until now, we have always come out of it, ”explains the artist.
It is by embracing his own paradoxes that the poet walks. Thus, to the acute awareness of our own finitude is added the desire for lightness, the search for a moment that would sanctify a day. “You talk about sacralization, and it’s true that the good Lord had a bit of this jobthere: take a weight off your shoulders. He took all your sins, erased them, and on Sundays, you came out on the church square relieved, ready to do more. »
What form will Daniel Bélanger’s next sin take? If the past is a guarantor of the future, we must expect everything. By his own admission, he hates repetition: “It makes me feel insecure to do the same thing again. I’m afraid of that. However, my life is very routine. It’s almost a ritual. But, in my expression, I like it to go as far as I can. I do it to my extent, but I try to push the limits of the playing field and have space to breathe and have fun. In other words, haloed with her smiling humility: “I’m just trying to honor the sovereignty that was offered to me by giving birth to me.” »