'Phrases' -- Arthur Rimbaud

[AbdoRinbo]

When the world is reduced to a single dark wood for our eyes' astonishment,----a bench for two faithful children,----a musical house for our pure sympathy,----I shall find you.

Should there be here below but a single old man, handsome and calm in the midst of incredible luxury, I shall be at your feet.

Should I have realized all your memories,----should I be the one who can bind you hand and foot,----I shall strangle you.

* * *

When we are very strong,----who draws back? very gay,----who cares for ridicule? When we are very bad,----what would they do with us?

Deck yourself, dance, laugh. I could never throw love out the window.

* * *

My comrade, beggar girl, monster child! O it's all one to you those unhappy women, these wiles and my discomfiture. Bind yourself to us with your impossible voice, your voice! sole soother of this vile despair.

* * *

An overcast morning in July. A taste of ashes flies through the air;----an odor of sweating wood on the hearth,----dew-ret flowers----devastation along the promenades----the mist of the canals over the fields----why not incense and toys already?

* * *

I have stretched some ropes from steeple to steeple; garlands from window to window; golden chains from star to star, and I dance.

* * *

The upland pond smokes continuously. What witch will rise against the white west sky? What violet frondescence fall?

* * *

While public funds evaporate in feasts of fraternity, a bell of rosy fire rings in the clouds.

Reviving a pleasant taste of India ink, a black powder rains on my vigil. I lower the jets of the chandelier, I throw myself on the bed, and turning my face toward the darkness, I see you, my daughters! my queens!

[fayefaye]

i loved those. any arthur rimbaud recommendations?

[den]

Oh! This is comfy and reasssuring, ,and you know how I love my benches

When the world is reduced to a single dark wood for our eyes' astonishment,----a bench for two faithful children,----a musical house for our pure sympathy,----I shall find you.

[AbdoRinbo]

i loved those. any arthur rimbaud recommendations?

'Phrases' is one of the poems in the Illuminations, which is a deranged assortment of prose poetry, but, in my opinion, the best place to start is with Rimbaud's last poem, A Season in Hell, which I consider his masterpiece.

[Sindhu]

These lines from "Bad Blood" chill me and make me want to laugh insanely at the same time:
"But orgies and the companionship of women were impossible for me. Not even a friend. I saw myself before an angry mob, facing a firing squad, weeping out sorrows they could not understand, and pardoning ! - like Joan of Arc ! - "Priests, professors and doctors, you are mistaken in delivering me into the hands of the law. I have never been one of you ; I have never been a Christian ; I belong to the race that sang on the scaffold ; I do not understand your laws ; I have no moral sense ; I am a brute ; you are making a mistake..."

The puishment visited on the outsider- what does it mean, what moral purpose does it serve andwhy do we inflict it except out of sheer cowardice?

And I used the following lines as a subtitle for an essay on colonialsm- I had not dreamt that the process could be so poetically encapsulated:

"The white men are landing. Cannons ! Now we must be baptized, get dressed, and go to work."

[AbdoRinbo]

That Joan of Arc quote used to be in my sigline. One of my favorites.

[Jay]

I wasn't sure if I'd read any of Rimbaud's poems, but now I think it's worth a try.

Thanks Ab

[Koa]

N'importe où au dehors de ce monde/ Anywhere outside of this world

That's Rimbaud isn't it? I just so love that line... "n'importe où"...kind of "it doesn't matter where". It's normal in French but it's so evocative...

[johnnybgoode]

I've heard of Rimbaud but his life,his exagerated attempts to be someone left me cold,after all that, he was an innovative writer.

[mono]

I've heard of Rimbaud but his life,his exagerated attempts to be someone left me cold,after all that, he was an innovative writer.

Indeed, he lived a rather fascinating life. Though he wrote such an extensive amount, most of his poetry came from his early life, as he wrote significantly less as time continued; sadly, too, he lived a rather short life, dying at the age 37, I believe. Throughout his life, he seemed more a writer of letters rather than poetry, especially exchanging many letters with partner, also a famed poet, Paul Verlaine.
Though some of his poetry gets slightly difficult to understand, perhaps owning more of a personal quality in his lifetime, that he wrote such brilliance at an early age, I find worthy of reverence. All of his poetry, letters, and biography, to me, seem well worth researching.

[NoviceSeer]

i loved those. any arthur rimbaud recommendations?

You could check A Season in Hell or Illuminations.