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Authors literature Poetry poets

Baudelaire: PoΓ¨te Maudit, FlΓ’neur, and Whatnot.

You have to be always drunk. That’s all there is to itβ€”it’s the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk.

But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk.

And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again, drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking. . .ask what time it is and wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: “It is time to be drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish.”

Translated by Louis Simpson.

Often our sailors, for an hour of fun,
Catch albatrosses on the after breeze
Through which these trail the ship from sun to sun
As it skims down the deep and briny seas.

Scarce have these birds been set upon the poop,
Than, awkward now, they, the sky’s emperors,
Piteous and shamed, let their great white wings droop
Beside them like a pair of idle oars.

These wingèd voyagers, how gauche their gait!
Once noble, now how ludicrous to view!
One sailor bums them with his pipe, his mate
Limps, mimicking these cripples who once flew.

Poets are like these lords of sky and cloud,
Who ride the storm and mock the bow’s taut strings,
Exiled on earth amid a jeering crowd,
Prisoned and palsied by their giant wings.

Jacques LeClercq, trans.

{A poΓ¨te maudit (French pronunciation: β€‹[pΙ”Ι›t modi], “accursed poet”) is a poet living a life outside or against society. Abuse of drugs and alcohol, insanity, crime, violence, and in general any societal sin, often resulting in an early death, are typical elements of the biography of a poΓ¨te maudit.}

{While Baudelaire characterized the flΓ’neur as a “gentleman stroller of city streets”, he saw the flΓ’neur as having a key role in understanding, participating in, and portraying the city. A flΓ’neur thus played a double role in city life and in theory, that is, while remaining a detached observer. This stance, simultaneously part of and apart from, combines sociological, anthropological, literary, and historical notions of the relationship between the individual and the greater populace.


The observer–participant dialectic is evidenced in part by the dandy culture. Highly self-aware, and to a certain degree flamboyant and theatrical, dandies of the mid-nineteenth century created scenes through self-consciously outrageous acts like walking turtles on leashes down the streets of Paris. Such acts exemplify a flΓ’neur’s active participation in and fascination with street life while displaying a critical attitude towards the uniformity, speed, and anonymity of modern life in The City.}

“I had intended, at first, to answer numerous other criticisms and at the same time to explain a few quite simple questions that have been totally obscured by modern enlightenment: What is poetry? What is its aim? On the distinction between the Good and the Beautiful; on the Beauty in Evil; that rhythm and rhyme answer the immortal need in man for monotony, symmetry, and surprise; on adapting style to subject; on the vanity and danger of inspiration, etc., etc.; but this morning I was so rash as to read some of the public newspapers; suddenly an indolence of the weight of twenty atmospheres fell upon me, and I was stopped, faced by the appalling uselessness of explaining anything whatever to anyone. Those who know can divine me, and for those who can not or will not understand, it would be fruitless to pile up explanations.

My publisher insists that it might be of some use, to me and to him, to explain why and how I have written this book, what were my means and aim, my plan and method. Such a critical task might well have the luck to interest those minds that love profound rhetoric. For those I shall perhaps write it later on and have it printed in ten copies. But, on second thought, doesn’t it seem obvious that this would be a quite superfluous undertaking for everyone concerned since those are the minds that already know or guess and the rest will never understand? I have too much fear of being ridiculous to wish to breathe into the mass of humanity the understanding of an art object; in doing so, I should fear to resemble those Utopians who by decree wish to make all Frenchmen rich and virtuous at a single stroke. And moreover, my best, my supreme reason is that it annoys and bores me.”

from 3 Drafts of a Preface to Flowers of Evil, Roy Campbell, trans.

Categories
Poetry poets Text Writings

The Poetry.

The work of maestros, read either by Tom O’Bedlam, or the poets themselves.

Addendum: John Gielgud chimes in with some Percy B Shelley, as does Bryan Cranston, and Milton is presented on the page. As is Nerval, for that matter.

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Achievements in Text Hale Madmen Poetry Prose Text Writings

K2-like Text Achievements.

Beyond that, he has roused us, among thoughts of universe or universes and of our smallness in the majestic vague.

And, of course….this.

The above meister-works, summoned from deeps untold by courageous pioneers, represent nothing less than the Greatest—EVER—Achievements in prose, poetry, or what-have-you. Primarily, the latter.

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Audio Charisma composers dancing Eerie Spatiality Eternal existentialism Geniuses Ian Curtis Joy Division Music music videos performers photography Poetic Genius Poetry Punk Singers Terminal videos vocalists

The Differently-Realmed Ian Curtis, and Joy Division.

Go ahead. Choose a realm, any realm. Ian’s not from there; he’s never taken up residence there, and, for that matter, spends precious little—if any—time there. Yes. It’s been proven.

The composer/vocalist of Joy Division hails from some different locale than do most human beings. Ian’s lodgings come rent-free, and he’s been awarded the keys to The City.

We’re not talking about earth, which he departed many years ago, alas, in 1980. He certainly left his mark here on this planet, but his realm is, and has ever been, elsewhere.

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Bruce Springsteen Charisma epoch-defining hit singles music videos performers photography Poetry Singers videos vocalists

Springsteen.

Titanic moments of ecstasy, pathos, and catharsis are the norm for this great man, in his legendary live performances.

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Actors Actors of Greatness Film Paul Bettany Poetry Terminal TV videos

These Fragments I Have Shored…

These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruins…

Adieu…

Hieronymo’s Mad Againe…

Paul Bettany displays simply towering talent in his portrayal here of serial killer Ted Kaczynski. Such examples of the following phenomenon are not without precedent, but they are rare fowl indeed. The Phenomenon: Bettany manages to be more Unabomber-esque than the Unabomber himself. Sure, it’s not possible; but this seems to pose little hindrance. Like G. Oldman as Stansfield, Olivier as Christian Szell, and Brando as Lee Clayton, Bettany simply has that much power to spare. It is rare indeed that a performance can truly be categorized as iconic…but the word applies fully in this situation. Incredible mastery. I find it haunting, in any number of ways, to this day. Indelible.

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Cecil Taylor Hand Usage Jazz music videos photography Poetry

The Cecil Taylor.

1) D Trad, That’s What.
Indent: Second Layer, part 2.
1) Bemsha Swing.
Live, in Bologna.
Azure.
Chinampas. Track 5.
After All No. 2

The astonishing Cecil Taylor. Simply magical.

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comedy Geniuses Humour Monty Python performers Poetry TV videos

The Monty Python: Part the First.

Most {well, all…} of these videos were wiped from the face o’ the earth, or at least from YouTube, semi-recently. It has been one of my ambitions to reinstate them, preferably in even better quality. These absurdist geniuses must be made available!! {7/21/2019}

And so…as Kevin Phillips-Bong stoically accepts the somewhat-less-than-one-might-want voting numbers, this concludes this, the first installment of re-Montying the planet. These pioneering wonders must—and shall be—well, you know what I mean.