Pauline Picot (born 1990) is a French playwright and poet. Her texts have been published since 2012 (by Quartett Éditions, Les Éclairs Éditions), and some of them were translated to Georgian by Bachana Chabradzé for magazines Indigo (2017) and Teatri (2019). Her writing tackles various subjects such as desire, social injunctions, psychic distress, the body and the feminine. Her latest play, Votre âme sœur est peut-être dans cette forêt [Your soulmate might be in these woods] (2022), was staged at the Théâtre du Rond-Point (Paris) in February 2023. As for her poetry, it can be read in specialized magazines (Gustave; Recours au poème; Carabosse) or on social media. She is also a performance artist. Since 2019, she has been creating several series of performances documented by photographs, which question the imperative of competition and the loneliness of everyday life. Her latest cycle, PLEUREUSE, began in January 2023. Finally, Pauline Picot is a PhD graduate in Theatre Studies, and teaches in various French Universities.

* * *

My God, it might just be

That no bomb explodes

In my street today

And tears my flesh to pieces

That no one kills my father

That one tortures my mother

My God, it might just be

That I don't live in Kharkiv

That I don't live in Israelstine

That I don't live in a shelter

And that I live, in fact, in total comfort

My god, I might have to

Live with this violent stroke of luck

And embrace with all my body, with all my heart

With all that is in me

The responsibility of joy

translated by the author