Summer Fridays!

What's there to blather on about?  Dunno.  Of the sixteen robed nazgul that comrpise my supervisory body, none are today present.  They're out lurking in the mists, I suppose.  Today is the first "summer Friday," which means we get out of work at 12:45.  Yes, you heard right.  Before I head to the Xerox machine for some creative copying, let's share.

Robert Bly's latest book of poetry (and second book of what he calls "American" ghazals), My Sentence Was A Thousand Years Of Joy, is now in paperback.  In fact, I'm looking at a copy right now, and can assure you, firsthand, that it is indeed in paperback.  This book includes the already famous poem against the Iraq War, "Call and Answer": "Tell me why it is we don't lift our voices these days / And cry over what is happening."  Make the effort.

I'm reading Arthur Rimbaud's Illuminations translated by Louise Varese (New Directions 1957).  When reading for the first time a work by a poet who's every mention is accompanied by statements like the following--"the most astonishing of French geniuses," "creator of free verse," "one of the greatest poets who ever lived"--there exists a pressure to "get it."  It's like when you've got your hand stuck in a jar (third time in a week) and no matter how hard clench your fist and try to yank it out, the mouth of the jar just won't let go.  Only when you relax, unclench your fist, and lube the brim with some butter, is your hand released from the hollow prison of the jar.  Well, maybe it's not exactly like that, but only after relieving myself of the "get it" pressure, were the subtleties of Rimbaud's poems apparent.

Yikes! I gotta get back to work.

Comments

[Lannie]

Hi,

I have read the Varese translation of Arthur Rimbaud's Illuminations, she is my second favourite Rimbaud translator behind Bernard Oliver.

I have built a website called The Decadents and farther..., featuring, amongst others, the lives and poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine, and Charles Baudelaire.

Thus far, it also features:

The beginnings of an Arthur Rimbaud themed Role-Playing Game, that I have called, 'The Continents of Rimbaud'.

An aesthetic library of over 140 hand selected links to Arthur Rimbaud articles, book reviews, and translations.

An advanced astrology section (StarCharts) that delves into each of Rimbaud's and Verlaine's birthcharts, as well as their composite chart.

A blog style magazine, called, 'The Arthur Rimbaud Forum', where, amongst other things, the latest A.R. earthbound related news, such as the campaign to save 8 Royal College street (the last remaining house in London where Verlaine and Rimbaud lived), may be discussed.

Please feel free to pass this invitation along to any other Rimbaud, Verlaine, Baudelaire, etc., enthusiasts that you might know.

Hope to see you there.

From Lannie.

Website: The Decadents and farther...
http://www.geocities.com/thedecadents2005/
Forum'zine: The Arthur Rimbaud Forum
http://arthurrimbaud.blogspot.com/

[Mike]

Thanks for the info. Yeah, while putzing around the net I came across Bernard Oliver's name far more often than Varese. I'm looking forward to checking out your site. Thanks for visiting!

[ポロ]

突然ステージを後に20以上の結果、叔父叔母、ブランドで顔を覆われ、多くの人々の一部です。私はあなたが私の本を読むことを求める？
POLO ラルフローレン監督はこのような状況を与えられたことがないので、人々は俳優が再生方法がわからないので、互いに顔を見合わせた。