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Poussière de lune
by J. Herbin

 

"Poussière de lune" (moon dust) is a delightfully poetic ink from French ink experts J. Herbin with a dark maroon color. The name can really set the imagination going, from images of moon rock turning to dust and falling slowly, invisibly to earth to reflections that if we are all really star dust (and thank you Joni Mitchell for teaching me this), then we are perhaps also moon dust ourselves.

By way of illustration of the inspirational power of the moon, consider this poem by Renée Vivien, who discovers that the moon has consoling properties. News we can use (though the word consolation contains "sol," a reminder that the sun, too, can help heal). Note, too, her description of the color, "noir violet." Not quite "poussière de lune," but close. Finally, although Vivien does not state it overtly, the reference to the rays of the moon evokes her nickname for Natalie Barney (moonbeam). In the rays of the moon, Vivien finds consolation indirectly in the reflected, refracted presence of a former lover.

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