The Resting Place of Rimbaud

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Billy
Posts: 1384
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 10:56

The Resting Place of Rimbaud

#1 Post by Billy » 01 May 2023, 08:10

The Resting Place of Rimbaud revised

His sister Isabelle
claims he accepted
the Catholic faith
before dying.

One leg.
Cancer a silent
witness to his life
like the Holy Ghost.

The priest
performed last
rites, said he had
never seen
such strong faith.

Never to speak
of poetry again.
It lives on.

Behold the time
of the Assassins.

Youth. Kill what is
old and fallen.

Coin of mediocrity.
Africa of salvation.
Guns for assassins.
Work and forgetting
for wayfarers.

We know how
to give our whole
lives every day.
We affirm you,
method!

(derangement
of the senses).

A modest monument
next to his sister.
Remembered
for what he left.

Priez pour lui
("Pray for him"),
epitaph of poet
running from
what he loves
before it kills him.


The Resting Place of Rimbaud

His sister Isabelle
claims he accepted
the Catholic faith
before dying.

One leg.
Cancer a silent
witness to his life
like the Holy Ghost.

The priest
performed last
rites, said he had
never seen
such strong faith.

Never to speak
of poetry again.
It lives on.

Behold the time
of the Assassins.

Youth. Kill what is
old and fallen.

I listen. Here and
there the horrible
truth of insanity
cresting to the edge
of the abyss
only to survive
by renunciation
and sanity.

Coin of mediocrity.
Africa of salvation.
Guns for assassins.
Work and forgetting
for wayfarers.

Priez pour lui
("Pray for him"),
epitaph of poet
running from
what he loves
before it kills him.

We know how
to give our whole
lives every day.
We affirm you,
method!


A modest monument
next to his sister.
Remembered
for what he left.



Read Bob's really good poem on Rimbaud at another site
and was inspired to write one, thanks, Bob.

User avatar
Billy
Posts: 1384
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 10:56

Re: The Resting Place of Rimbaud

#2 Post by Billy » 01 May 2023, 18:54

Another poem from 40 years ago that I wouldn't post for crit. It would be demolished:


A Letter

Rimbaud II,

“I am the slave of the Infernal
Bridegroom. . .”

I am the Steppenwolf.
I am the Lion of Spring.
The angry March wind
beats my mane
of glorious madness.

I will not lie down
with the Lamb;
the Lamb will be my sacrifice.

I am the tender, swift
edge of the knife
sliding to a painless death.

I am the creation
of the mother.
I am the reincarnation
of the father.

I am a better shot.

In lust and passion,
Verlaine II



I was in love with another writer at the time when I wrote this.

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: The Resting Place of Rimbaud

#3 Post by BobBradshaw » 02 May 2023, 02:43

I really like "The Resting Place...". So many strong stanzas! So many lines to quote...starting with these lines below. I love the writing in them.
I'm not sure the renunciation and sanity stanza improves the poem. I'm not familiar with the reference to "the method". Could you explain the method?
I might move the Pray for Him stanza to the end and move the modest monument stanza before it. Just a thought. It works as it is fine. It's just that I love the Pray for him lines...and they would be a good way to summarize his life.

Cancer a silent
witness to his life
like the Holy Ghost.

The priest
performed last
rites, said he had
never seen
such strong faith.

and

Coin of mediocrity.
Africa of salvation.
Guns for assassins.
Work and forgetting
for wayfarers.

Priez pour lui
("Pray for him"),
epitaph of poet
running from
what he loves
before it kills him.

User avatar
Billy
Posts: 1384
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 10:56

Re: The Resting Place of Rimbaud

#4 Post by Billy » 02 May 2023, 05:28

Thanks, Bob, revised per your suggestions.

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Billy
Posts: 1384
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 10:56

Re: The Resting Place of Rimbaud

#5 Post by Billy » 02 May 2023, 05:47

All the italicized stuff is from one of Rimbaud's greatest prose poems, Morning of Drunkenness, from Illuminations. It is sort of a rant against all the hypocrisy. The tree of good and evil buried in the shade. As to what "method" means I will leave to your interpretation when you read it. I know one of Rimbaud's methods was to totally derange one's self in order to break free and gain insight. A "systematic derangement of the senses" to break away from conventional thinking.

RamanathanSiva
Posts: 127
Joined: 28 Aug 2020, 23:11

Re: The Resting Place of Rimbaud

#6 Post by RamanathanSiva » 02 May 2023, 21:36

The method is not highlighted,that is why. Maybe it is better this way.

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: The Resting Place of Rimbaud

#7 Post by BobBradshaw » 02 May 2023, 21:49

Maybe instead of method you should work in "derangement of the senses". That may be what Siva is suggesting too.

RamanathanSiva
Posts: 127
Joined: 28 Aug 2020, 23:11

Re: The Resting Place of Rimbaud

#8 Post by RamanathanSiva » 02 May 2023, 21:52

I though or heard 'methodist' in 'method'.

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: The Resting Place of Rimbaud

#9 Post by BobBradshaw » 05 May 2023, 22:45

Maybe change this:

We know how
to give our whole
lives every day.
We affirm you,
method!
(derangement
of the senses).

to

We know how
to give our lives every day
to the systematic
derangement
of the senses!

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