Night fell on Montmartre and, gazing into my love's eyes
Over a candelit chequered tablecloth,
Beneath my belt lurked rancid lust,
The seams of my ******* oozing desire,
My groin drenched in desire for his wanton ****-flesh.

Streetlight shone through threadbare curtains
Harnessing proudly over my twitching buttocks;
My screamed climaxes echoing
In deepest recesses of Parisian dawnings.
My clear goal: swallow his salty comings.

Morning exposes a sordid scene to chambermaid's gawp:
Spreadeagled cold-as-chilled-salami bozo,
Puny synapses crushed like mashed strawberries
Blasted smithereens of overpowering *******
Like chicken's entrails in an unwashed sink.

A "Memories" poem by the immortal Barry Hodges aka Edna*

Night fell on Montmartre and, gazing into my love's eyes
Over a candelit chequered tablecloth,
Beneath my belt lurked rancid lust,
The seams of my trousers oozing love's sweet song,
My groin lumped in desire for her wanton ****-flesh.

Streetlight shone through threadbare curtains
Harnessing proudly over my pounding buttocks;
Hermione's screamed climaxes echoing
In deepest recesses of her third-rate mind.
My clear goal: swallow my salty comings, cow.

Morning exposes a sordid scene to chambermaid's gawp:
Spreadeagled cold-as-chilled-salami ****,
Puny synapses crushed like mashed strawberries
Blasted smithereens of overpowering *******
Like chicken's entrails in an unwashed sink.

blood stains her canvas
   congealed crusts, fresh streaks
frayed corners and edges
   the tattered toll of pain, loss

how best to depict my love on her
   overlay her with beauty
to develop a patina of care over time
   reduce her suffering to pentimento

her landscape shifts constantly
   with the quality of her light
I must blend to the shade of her mood
   her want...her need

work from the palette of my heart
   in the spectrum of my love
paint her in courted color
   every tone of every hue

brush her being with my caress
   creatively styled to her moment
pastel tenderness...primary strength
   bold strokes of passion...bright splashes of spontaneity

to portray for her a frameless existence
   of unlimited intimacy and peace
but she does not rest on my easel
   and I am merely dreaming of the art of love

Against too many writers of science fiction

Why did you lure us on like this,
Light-year on light-year, through the abyss,
Building (as though we cared for size!)
Empires that cover galaxies
If at the journey's end we find
The same old stuff we left behind,
Well-worn Tellurian stories of
Crooks, spies, conspirators, or love,
Whose setting might as well have been
The Bronx, Montmartre, or Bedinal Green?

Why should I leave this green-floored cell,
Roofed with blue air, in which we dwell,
Unless, outside its guarded gates,
Long, long desired, the Unearthly waits
Strangeness that moves us more than fear,
Beauty that stabs with tingling spear,
Or Wonder, laying on one's heart
That finger-tip at which we start
As if some thought too swift and shy
For reason's grasp had just gone by?

In a strange mood - see/write art



in a strange way, disorganized but straight on,
light tinted magenta, issuing, in frothy large pours, from my mouth,
knowing what to say, and the meaning too,
I can more than walk, can write, on water,
where all can read weeping, Mary-miracles of seeing, living words,
themselves, on light waves lapping in a
shifting rotunda vision, color reorienting spatial senses.^

in a strange, strange stitch, seasonal spirits and witches,
Chagall, Baez, Dylan Thomas, Donovan, Richie Havens
doing their knitting in my brain, from Montmartre to the Midwest to Monterey,
painters and poets in lockstep head-messing with me,
imperfect clarity but still one voice,
see/write art,
so went and caught the wind, going gently into night
to banish the hodgepodge of uncertainty from inside out.

knowing well you don't understand fully, but jumbling tumbling
verses are sliding off my rusted tongue as fiddlers fly above,
roughened words, hewn from a paper cup, spilling diamonds uncut, imported from Sarajevo, Montparnasse, the Lower East Side.
wretched me, in the hour I first believed, this amalgamated conception conceded,
seceded from my mind into your palate for a tasting,
tho neither drugged, nor deaf and dumb, just slammed poetical-like, this write is
all I have to portend is your affections, your attentions, to yours, am beholden.

a *****, well respected man in daylight,
the hidden references accuse,
woke up to see Wednes-day Caesarian born,
askance glanced at the prior passages of the night before,
when my palate clefted,
when eyes chose not to distinguish
between right and lefted,
in the nightlight,
a ***** man disrespects language convection/convention,
and lays before you activating stanzas and his mind, prone,
but always the truth, speaking,
the visions, leaking, mind to eye,
recombinant, into our minds eye.




^ http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/on-view/james-turrell


Rather than write extensive notes on the many references, inspirations in this poem, if there is a line that intrigues, ask me

We met in the Red Square at Midnight. Sitting on the austere steps of the Kremlin We drank Stolichnaya in silence; listened to St. Basil’s Bells stoic ringing until Our sun rose pale over Moscow  

Beauty is created when I press your mulatto skin to mine.
We shift. You move, and as you’re moved you move me.
Our motion akin to your mother’s in a gentle breeze or a dancer;
Some Elise pirouetting et fouetter and falling over graceful infinities.    

I am deliberate during this ballet. Subdominant.
Una corda e sostenuto, and as you request so do you respond; relaxed,
Sustaining single notes; soft into that ethereal Moonlight…
Blurred and blunted, your perfect meter dampened by my learned cadence.
    
As you sound off forte I rock slightly forward, coming into you harder.
We breathe sharp together; my fingertips caressing you legato;
My Ana Magdalena. Andantino; rolling into flurries of crescendos
presto allegro climaxing; Capitulating again before we rest…
Before lento diminuendo.                                                      ­                

We courted at the Konig Von Ungarn in Vienna. It was classical and   romantic. Baroque. We fell in love. At Figaro’s wedding we tasted sangria as the stars Set, pastel, over Seville. Our first kiss was the Holy Roman Empire fading; A footnote under bass cleft.

We were married in the Rhineland, a single Canon announcing our nuptial.
You a Riesling and I your lattice. I stood firm, resolute, as you grew in, around, and from me. But the lords, they taint you, they **** me of your fruits; oblivious, they invoke their subtle prima nocta.                            

From the rooftops and the gutters they hear you. A virtue is lost between us. We shift. They are unwelcome eavesdroppers’ playing ******.  
They come and gather round us and I grow nervous, stiff; sweat falling from my brow to your ebony and ivory.
They move provocative, but they do not care; they do not notice us.                            

I stop as they begin. They’re discourteous during this Can-can. Their  praise and kind words may arouse the pimps and ****** wandering Montmartre into Paris’s red-light,  “Hear,” they fall on deaf ears.
This is no Moulin Rouge. We are not meant to be exhibitionists and yet
we yield to their flat appeals.                                                         ­                           

I put my clothes back on, Rags is all they are, and you, you’ve become stark.
I project my discontent through your string and hammer heart;
I slap your toothy face and stomp your sterling feet without relent.
I-De-tach-My-self-From-You. Staccato. They call me Inventive and as they sip their whiskey, their bourbons and their Texas Tea they tell us that
we have Entertained.        

We build our home from the precious stones of foreign countries.
We traverse ages to reach the mines and the rock fields, finding rough Diamonds and sapphires. Naked, we wash them in ether; they luster.
The noblemen come. They smile and applaud as they peep through the Windows and knock at the doors, but We shall not  be moved.

Paris pines
for us:

...whines for us.

Lurks outside
our window

like a great big
urban puppy.

We're being held
prisoner

( inside our room )

by a vicious sadistic
flu bug

who refuses to
let us go.

We are missing
David Sirosis's

new spoken
word night.

Indeed, all we have seen
of Paris, is:

the inside of
ROOM 411.

ROOM 411
overlooks that famed necropolis

CIMETIÈRE DE MONTMARTRE.

The dead stand
outside

ROOM 411
...and stare.

And...stare.

Envious of even
our flu-ridden life.

They crowd together
in their stone telephone boxes

like fans
at a Dr. Who convention

who have all come
as the Tardis.

"Come...come!"
they cajole.

"Come...join us as
the glorious dead!"
they plead.

See the great
Nijinksy

leap over a moon.

Offenbach, Berlioz et Degas
act a a celebrated Greek Chorus.

The flu grows weary
let's its...grip...slip &

we escape to
a poetry stage &

suddenly it's
PARIS LIT UP &

I'm on
stage.

A bemused amused
Parisian audience

wondering why
the staggery hairy

Irish post stumbles &

wanders in search of
his words &

carrying all of CIMETIÈRE DE MONTMARTRE
about in his ahhhhh...ahhhhh...ahhhhhhhhhh

....shoooooo....head!

I arrive at the barbers
for my weekly, my usual,
and you are there,

sitting in my seat
crying. I lift you up,
cape and all,

take you round the
corner, where you tell
me you are sorry

but we have to go to
Brighton now, even
though it is 6pm on

a Friday and we won’t
be done until 2pm
tomorrow. Is it a ruse?

I think so, because
suddenly we are in a
part of London that

looks like Montmartre
(or it could be Richmond
masquerading as Venice)

and we meet a man
called Tricks who says
he’s the new chief now

because he knows the
location of all the bones.
And then there are

scanners at airports,
walk-in health centres,
families in North Carolina

with names like Kayleigh
and Shauna. And when
we are done meeting

them we are back, you
in the chair, glowing blue
under barbicide lights.

Soon after the sky had cast off
The tattered cloak of night,
And the midnight sun had set,
Helios himself climbed above the trees.
Dancing across the tops of dueling oaks,
Those primordial brothers between the ponds
Who, over time, grew up and into each other,
He sat spinning madly.

Shedding his golden rays,
As a lab shakes and sheds the water from his back,
They fell deliberately onto
And through my open blinds.
And I, stirred by the small streams of light
Cutting through the dark as if empty space,
I opened my eyes, only to close them again.

Lying, silently, I wait,
Tracing shadows as they slowly shift,
Dancing across the dull, white walls.
Fetid clothes lay protecting the floorboards.

The stale smell of smoke lingers,
Trapped in the soft cottons and polyesters
Of the cream throw pillows,
The blue waves of comforter,
The vast canyons of the corduroy futon.

Wine, fresh on my tongue,
Tells tales of the evening,
Lost of late in a world so distant.
My memories slip away like slack tide
Beneath rotten planks of a dock.

Twin cities, London and Paris,
A cold Christmas morning in Montmartre,
The warmth of the café we shared,
All hung up neatly on the wall.
Maps of emotions I never knew I had.

Only the breeze may speak here,
Whistling through the fissures in the wall.

I’ll find my way back to you in Montmartre’s cobblestone streets.
Imagine Hemingway right next to us, rambling on about his moveable feast.
Like free-spirited birds, I’ll race you to the top of Sacré-Cœur.
Before you can catch your breath,
I promise the view would steal it once more.

I want to see every inch of the Louvre, we’d probably get lost for days;
But we’re smiling like fools, I bet it would put Mona Lisa to shame.
We can stroll along the Seine, and haggle with bouqinistes near Notre Dame.
I’ll ask an artist to paint you,
But first show me how a monsieur should love a madam.

I utter a prayer in Sainte-Chapelle as I immortalize you in stained glass.
Maybe as we wander aimlessly in Champs-Elysées, Degas would teach us how to dance.
I’ll tell you all my secrets, the way kings and queens did once.
Even Rodin would call it treason not to cast these two lost souls in bronze.

Pick me flowers from Tuileries, like the ones Monet had in his mind.
I’ll make a wish before they wilt; Don’t we all hope for the best before we die?
And right here in the in-betweens, we have love to keep us alive,
As foolish and as innocent as the way Picasso painted like a child.

Winter slowly turned into spring, and soon we’ll say goodbye.
The Tour Eiffel glistened in all its glory as darkness fell on the city of lights.
Paris, it has been an honor to love and be loved by you.
In a few years or maybe in a heartbeat—
I’ll come home to you soon.

Disini aku masih di bawah langit milik bumiku
Tapi berbeda tempat dan aroma tanah
Aku merasa di atmosfer era abad pertengahan
Melihat banyak kastil dengan arsitektur tua
Pemandangan yang indah di Montmartre, sebuah kerajaan seni
yang siap memanjakan mataku seketika

Musim gugur menciptakan lukisan indah secara alami
Tempat itu seperti kanvas
Diciptakan oleh kuas ajaib anugrah yang kuasa
Meski Claude Monete dan Renoir sudah tidak ada lagi
Aku bisa melihat perpaduan warna cantik di musim gugur dengan mata telanjang
kuning, oranye, merah dan coklat
Lukisan yang begitu indah

Biarkan aku memakai jaket hari ini
Sebab udara membuatku cukup dingin
Aku berjalan-jalan di pedesaan Prancis
Pohon-pohon gugur di sepanjang jalan
ditemani oleh nyanyian burung yang menyemarakan hariku
Ini sudah waktunya panen
Aku menyukai labu di ladang
Memilih apel dan pir di kebun dekat benteng Talcy

Prancis seperti harta karun emas
Paris di musim gugur bulan ini
Menara Eiffel sudah menungguku
kali ini aku berjalan di atas dedaunan
Begitu renyah di bawah kakiku
Pohon maple di atas saya memayungi meski hari tak hujan
Daunnya yang tersentuh angin berputar-putar
Mengirim mereka untuk menari di udara
Sangat romantis
Aku sedang duduk di bangku kayu
Ah jika September tiba...

and there is some beauty
in listening to mouths
speak a language
that you may not understand
but at the bottom of the screen
stream the words
that leave the lips

you begin to realize
all you've got to do is read
and that you haven't
forgotten how to
take it all in

and as boys fall in love
with girls in cafes
and ride around on mopeds
and ******* their bodies
to men who needn't the money,
but the ***
because they haven't touched
their wives since
they gave birth
to their second child

you begin to realize
how beautiful
french truly is
and that you haven't forgotten
what montmartre's graves
look like in the evening's fleeting light

and as a girl falls in love
with two men at once
and they discover
how sordid lovers can be
while painting their
stories for all artistic
eyes to drink in slowly
and they lay on their
brand new queen,
because there just isn't
room for three
on a twin

you begin to
remember that spanish
is full of passion
and that you haven't forgotten
everything you learned in tenth grade

words may be formed
with different movement
of our tongues
and you may not have the
slightest idea what i'm saying
as i scrawl down these lines,
but i'm certain
that we've all found beauty
in listening to someone
pour their heart out
on the page

I. The Flitting



just like me to
be the one to lose my nerve
I don’t even think of you
sipping your coffee and yawning


           his honey-throat spreading imagined hospitality like butter
           on toast—the bard of Royal Street ringing bells of that
           known once and only, that forgotten bard of Montmartre


                                 e, e, e, e,
                                            e, e, e, e, e, d, c, d



I walked up and down and up and down
and up and down, wrought-iron
     balconies and
          hanging plants and
                circus clowns and
              cocktails named
          things like Aviator
and Little Josephine
     in my ribs.



           hurricane season came and went
           the apartment Jacob rented painted
           salmon by the new tenant
           I kept walking
           all I heard was jazz




II. The Splatter



I met a man all the way from Delhi
at the mismatched
butterfly-printed breakfast table.
He said

           “Where are you from?”

and I said a little town near Philly
and he said

           “Where are you going?”

and I said I haven’t got a clue.


He told me they let you
paint the walls with pen strokes
and they never paint it over.


He said to love thy neighbor ‘cause she looks okay
and when they ask what brings you here
to smile and tell them

“Well isn’t that just none of your **** business.”




III. The End



it was
          just
                 like
                      me
                 to be
            the one
         to     lose
      my nerve—





I step off the plane
humming in my best
imitation honey voice
a little drunk on airplane wine



it’s raining here
and I only remember
that one line

Here.. I'm still under the sky
but different place and ground
I feel in medieval era atmosphere
Seeing lots of castles with old architecture
Beautiful view in Montmartre, the custom of art
Pampering my eyes

Autumn creates a wonderful art naturally
This place like a natural canvas
created by a magical brush from God's hand
Though Claude Monete and Renoir aren't exist anymore
I can see the blend colors of autumn with my naked eyes
There is yellow, orange, red and brown
such a lovely painting

Let me wear jacket this day
Cause the air makes me pretty cold
Strolling a countryside of French
Deciduous trees along village street
With bird song around
It's time to harvest
I like pumpkins in the field
Picking apples and pears in the orchard near Talcy castle

French is like a gold treasure
Paris in autumn this month
Eiffel tower is waiting me
I'm walking on the leaves carpet
So crisp under my feet
The maple trees above me shadowing
The leaves twirling
send them to dance in the air
Exceedingly romantic
I was sitting on bench wood
Oh.. if September comes

NA.2016

LOVE AND LOVERS

by

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Chapter 4

Bian and Jon began studying together in Butler Library. They read, they wrote, they laughed together. They got to know each other increasingly well. Their relationship, seemingly effortlessly, became romantic. They began to spend more time in Jon’s apartment. They became lovers.

Bian brought Jon a sense of happiness into his life that he had never experienced before. Not surprisingly, the same was true for Bian in a similar way, who previously, but not consciously, had always felt somewhat on the periphery of life in America. They complemented and enjoyed each other, so much so that full-blown love blossomed.

This is how the rest of the semester flowed. When Christmas break came, they decided to fly to Paris and spend the holidays there. Of course, they visited the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame. They strolled down Champs-Elysees and through Montmartre, ate mostly at bistros, and took a trip to see Versailles.

Among other excursions, they traveled to Amiens to see the famous cathedral there. Overlooking the Somme River, the Amiens Cathedral was built between 1220 and 1270. It was the largest cathedral in France, twice the size of Notre Dame. Jon said the skyscrapers in New York City paled in comparison to Amiens Cathedral.

Back to Columbia, New York City, and Spring semester. When the weather warmed, they spent many week-end afternoons in Central Park, visited many other sites, ate all kinds of ethnic foods, and, of course, had breakfast at Tom’s often. Furthermore, Bian’s parents were flying from Hanoi to New York City to attend Commencement.

But the highlight not only of the moment, but also, and most importantly, of the rest of her life, was Jon proposing marriage to her the week before they were to graduate, which, in a state of both shock and pure joy, she accepted. He gave her a diamond engagement ring he had bought at Tiffany’s.

“It is such an honor and a pleasure to meet both of you, Mr. and Mrs. Ly,” said Jon. Mr. Ly translated for his wife who knew no English.


Commencement at Columbia was always a transcendental exercise. That evening, the four of them celebrated by having dinner at Eleven Madison Park, courtesy of Mr. Minh. Three days later, Bian and Jon were married in St. Paul’s Chapel on the Columbia campus.

Bian and John rented a cottage on Cape Cod for the summer. A summer of love it was. Sailing, relaxing, chatting, making love–all that two human beings could wish for.

Early on, Jon had called Chad Willington, his roommate for all four years at Columbia, to thank him for coming to the wedding.

“Jon, I just have to ask you this one question,” said Chad. “Is Bian’s father, by any chance, Minh Ly?”

“Yes,” said Jon.

“Jesus, Jon! Did you know that Minh Ly is one of the richest men on the planet?”

Silence.

Finally, Jon said, “No, I didn’t know that.”

“Not only is Minh Ly one of the richest men on Earth, but he is one of the most connected in the entire world. But most people, even the richest, don’t know how internationally influential he is. He keeps an extremely low profile.

More silence.

“I didn’t know any of this, Chad. Bian never mentioned to me even an iota of what you have just told me,” said Jon.

“Well, Jon, I had to ask,” said Chad. “I hope you’re not disconcerted.”

“No, no, Chad. I guess I’m just flabbergasted,” said Jon.

“I found out about Minh Ly when I was invited to join members of the top brass at a Goldman Sachs luncheon and Minh Ly’s name popped into the conversation for a minute or two. That’s all,” said Chad.

“Fine, Chad. Thanks for telling me this,” said Jon, then hung up.

I have in me a bit of Tuscan sun
The wildness of mistral
The calmness of a Cezanne village
I often walk around the countryside of Pissaro
And see the colors, still abundant, undefeated
I stroll around the lilies and the harbor of France where Manet painted being thrown out of his house, not able to pay the rent
I dance with the beautiful girls in high society Parisian parties of whom from Zola to Maugham spoke about
I learn art in silence, in the bright orange color of the day drawing the French young girl
Whose face is like Madonna
Her innocence, her laughter, her flawless body
Excite me, breaks me, creates me
I walk with clean head and red wine in the streets of Montmartre
Searching the gone and dusted studio of Renoir, Picasso, Monet
I stand exactly there where there is nothing old except the moon
And the Sacre Couer
In the morning I take the first train to Auvers Sur Oise
And walk into the cemetery
Where lie in the gorgeous French sun
Vincent and Theo Van Gogh
I utter to them, "Can dream ever be false?"
It is when I heard the footsteps
I turned
The girl in the yellow dress stands at the gate of the cemetery
Whom I draw every day but never captured her beauty
The French girl
We both stand there as it is
As if 
framed
paused 
Frozen
We, the Impressionists!

Ô Cloître Saint-Merry funèbre ! sombres rues !

Je ne foule jamais votre morne pavé

Sans frissonner devant les affres apparues.


Toujours ton mur en vain recrépit et lavé,

Ô maison Transnonain, coin maudit, angle infâme,

Saignera, monstrueux, dans mon coeur soulevé.


Quelques-uns d'entre ceux de Juillet, que le blâme

De leurs frères repus ne décourage point,

Trouvent bon de montrer la candeur de leur âme.


Alors dupes ? - Eh bien ! ils l'étaient à ce point

De mourir pour leur oeuvre incomplète et trahie.

Ils moururent contents, le drapeau rouge au poing.


Mort grotesque d'ailleurs, car la tourbe ébahie

Et pâle des bourgeois, leurs vainqueurs étonnés,

Ne comprit rien du tout à leur cause haïe.


C'était des jeunes gens francs qui riaient au nez

De tout intrigant comme au nez de tout despote,

Et de tout compromis désillusionnés.


Ils ne redoutaient pas pour la France la botte

Et l'éperon d'un Czar absolu, beaucoup plus

Que la molette d'un monarque en redingote.


Ils voulaient le devoir et le droit absolus,

Ils voulaient « la cavale indomptée et rebelle »,

Le soleil sans couchant, l'Océan sans reflux.


La République, ils la voulaient terrible et belle,

Rouge et non tricolore, et devenaient très froids

Quant à la liberté constitutionnelle...


Aussi, d'entre ceux de juillet, que le blâme

Ils étaient peu nombreux, tout au plus deux ou trois

Centaines d'écoliers, ayant maîtresse et mère,


Ils savaient qu'ils allaient mourir pour leur chimère,

Et n'avaient pas l'espoir de vaincre, c'est pourquoi

Un orgueil douloureux crispait leur lèvre amère ;


Et c'est pourquoi leurs yeux réverbéraient la foi

Calme ironiquement des martyres stériles,

Quand ils tombèrent sous les balles et la loi.


Et tous, comme à Pharsale et comme aux Thermopyles,

Vendirent cher leur vie et tinrent en échec

Par deux fois les courroux des généraux habiles.


Aussi, quand sous le nombre ils fléchirent, avec

Quelle rage les bons bourgeois de la milice

Tuèrent les blessés indomptés à l'oeil sec !


Et dans le sang sacré des morts où le pied glisse,

Barbotèrent, sauveurs tardifs et nasillards

Du nouveau Capitole et du Roi, leur complice.


- Jeunes morts, qui seriez aujourd'hui des vieillards,

Nous envions, hélas ! nous vos fils, nous la France,

Jusqu'au deuil qui suivit vos humbles corbillards.


Votre mort, en dépit des serments d'allégeance,

Fut-elle pas pleurée, admirée et plus ****

Vengée, et vos vengeurs sont-ils pas sans vengeance ?


Ils gisent, vos vengeurs, à Montmartre, à Clamart,

Ou sont devenus fous au soleil de Cayenne,

Ou vivent affamés et pauvres, à l'écart.


Oh ! oui, nous envions la fin stoïcienne

De ces calmes héros, et surtout jalousons

Leurs yeux clos, à propos, en une époque ancienne.


Car leurs yeux contemplant de lointains horizons

Se fermèrent parmi des visions sublimes,

Vierges de lâcheté comme de trahison,


Et ne virent jamais, jamais, ce que nous vîmes.

I just want to be on the cliff at Tintagel
Looking to the castle, & Merlin's cave.
Or Bigbury beach, on the sea tractor.
Or hanging off a rock at Peak District
Or hanging off a tree in Holborough

Maybe further afield than England,
Coffee with her at Montmartre
Or hiking in the regions of Inca
And bathing in coves of Costa Rica
Or climbing pyramids of Cancun

A list of things to do once lockdown ends

The annual rose garden blushes beneath a soft dress
in May. My crooked puppet's shadow has subsided in the theater it came to make way for fairweather, protest, wet teal ink
flowering the walls as sunlight shines thru and the mechanical
blinking of shadowy eyes now spurred AWAKE.
An Appalachian mind gaze and spiderweb neon
smoke attaching it's warmth to every freckled cheek,
a mint kiss like the opening of a fir tree smelted into the
foggy earth.

Ceramics embroider the shop sills
and ceiling fans wave hello n farewell to every guest
each day longer than the last!
WANDERER slept
sound in the Nagakin Capsule Tower, few nights ago now,
had an idea, lost it, feather flowed it's way across Pacific
to my bedroom and I wrote about her here, and saw a Japanese tea ceremony flash by
her eyes/my eyes
a collective consciousness
sometimes years apart.

She, who's witnessed the debris of catastrophe,
standing over what was a golden vase
filled with Tulips
now ash, forgotten except for in a memorial vague outline
in the bewitched brain(s)
Visionary! Arms twitched to the rapture occurring in plain view of us all
VIOLIN rebounding intangible yet unmistakable sound
on a train in Tokyo city. Cement is damp with Spring's sweet rain,
her feet sore from all this walking!

I appreciate her travels, as they are at once my own,
a second-hand enchantment
the taste of green tea, cherries!
EXPLOSIVE FORMLESS ANIMAL WHITE
feather grazed my skin, startled.

This feeling??
something set free, a violent hue erratic
markings on the cave walls, the one from Plato's allegory,
watching fire light the shape of our bodies and some spectacular image displays itself invisible
but felt, undeniable!
Settled, fire transferred to our lungs.
We call this “ART”
we have left the cave, to Paris, to Senegal, to Jaipur,
to her and I and you.

Animal oh animal caged no longer,
howling paintings and smells to our eyes,
bitten our hands sharp with poetry,
this ghast who's empathy for strangers has made a rare few dizzy. Possession! Willingly accepted nocturnal entity and I write this because I can't help myself.

THIS IS WHAT CREATED THE MANDALA,
COLORS OF AN ANCIENT PEACOCK
LURKING WITHIN US TENDING THE FLORA
which takes inspiration from museums, from brief embers shot up in a chasm fireplace illustrating what we'll call Forever,
vocal alchemist who resides in descending faint harp and opera
a fountain in a mysterious lobby only visited by one person, once every few months,
birds shimmer in planted palms and a crystal ceiling expounds the details of travels to come,
an orb above like an observatory for our OWN universe.

APOLLO IN LAUREL
PIANO, ASIAN INFLUENCE,
Damien Hirst's “Beautiful darkness spreading to every corner of your mind painting"
framed holy upon the walls
Jean Cocteau's “The Blood of a Poet” projected also, side by side.
A painted face, a parrot imitating Sudhana

“This is the abode of those of unobstructed intellect and broad mind,
Enjoying the realm of space, free from dependence,
Penetrating all times, free from obstruction,
Clearly perceiving all being and becoming” - Avatamsaka Sutra

I'm speechless!
She's speechless! Her Tokyo, admittedly imaginary. It's her private
Nagakin Capsule Tower. It's my private Temple, my private Cocteau,
shelves stocked with the poems I'll one day write.
Words which shall knock on my dented skull in sleep mostly, but other times I can't recall as of this moment (Get back to me in July)
retired to literary France
and caught in the quicksand of aging, perhaps medicine will be far along enough that I shall die at 173?
a stretch, but considering that sciences are pushing for immortality by 2045 (pfft)
we shall see.
(??)
Bearded and divine with love
and experience from Airplanes
free jazz, dramatics,
heart to heart, dense libraries,
evening walks to Montmartre
a hand to hold
a kiss to experience.
Meditations,
Rodriguez “Sugar Man” fades out
“Silver magic ships... you carry...”
Sung once by the European barista in British Columbia who kept me caffeinated with a double shot of espresso for guessing the song right which was playing..This just happened, but I realize it'll become such a faint memory by then.
Out and out and out and out there
Far beyond the reaches of consciousness that previously mentioned feather will gather with the other ideas and become the WHITE peacock, infinite.
Carrying us there as wintry atoms
snowdrops on it's back.
One life to another.

Moi mouchard ?... oui, madame Phaïlle,
Comme on Vous nomme dans l'endroit,
Que Tu ravis avec ta taille,
Où tu prends du bout d'une paille,
Au temps chaud, ton sorbet... très froid.

À l'Ictinus ! près de la place
Et du palais de Médicis,
Tu t'asseyais, pâle, un peu lasse ;
Et ta grenadine à la glace
Souriait, rose, à mon cassis.

Beau café ; terrasse ; pratique
Chère aux chanteurs du vieux Faubourg ;
À proximité fantastique
De l'Odéon ; vue artistique
Sur les arbres du Luxembourg.

Je disais ? ah !... ceci, Madame,
Que s'il est un pauvre mouchard
Sur la galère noire où rame
L'esclave du Paris infâme,
Sans l'excuse d'être pochard,

C'est moi, je n'en connais pas d'autre,
Chefs ni roussins. C'est entendu.
Ah ! si ! j'en connais un... l'apôtre...
Ô catholiques, c'est le nôtre ;
Oui, le seul... qui se soit pendu.

Nul n'a ramassé son nom sale ;
L'amour n'a plus redit ce nom.
La chose était trop... colossale !
Qu'un père appelle... Élagabale
Son fils... à la rigueur... mais... non.

Ah ! Madame ! que ça de fête !
J'en connais un second : Javert.
Le Javert chéri du poète,
Qui dit la messe... avec sa tête !
Triste prêtre du bonnet vert !

Mais ça vous pose ! on vous renomme
Chez les gueux et chez les richards !
On croit troubler le pape à Rome !
Et ça fait de vous un grand homme,
Vénéré de tous les mouchards.

Mon Javert, dit-il, est honnête.
Honnête ! où vas-tu te fourrer ?
Ce n'est pas sublime, c'est bête :
Autant contempler la lunette
Où le trou du cul vient pleurer.

Un mouchard, mais ça vend son âme !
Comment, son âme ! son ami !
Ça vendrait son fils ; une femme !
Pourquoi non ? C'est dans... le programme,
On n'est pas honnête à demi.

Ça vendrait n'importe laquelle
D'entre les femmes d'à présent !
Quand je songe que la séquelle
Pourrait t'effleurer de son aile
Ne serait-ce qu'en te rasant,

Comme Éole, qui souffle et cause
Des ravages dans le faubourg
Où, la nuit, Montmartre repose,
Peut importuner une Rose
Dans le jardin du Luxembourg ;

Moins : comme le zéphir, qui rôde,
Vent, on peut dire, un peu balourd,
Mais bon zouave, allant en maraude,
Peut froisser la Fleur la plus chaude
Des plus blanches du Luxembourg ;

Moins : comme une anthère blessée
Par la brise folle qui court,
Sa chemisette retroussée,
Peut entêter une Pensée
La plus belle du Luxembourg.

Moins : comme la vergue cassée
D'un marin, retour de Cabourg,
Fier de sa flotte cuirassée,
Fait se tourner une Pensée
Vers le bassin du Luxembourg ;

Moins : comme une vesce élancée
Par une bague de velours,
Lui fichant sa douce fessée,
Distrait la plus sage Pensée
De l'un et l'autre Luxembourgs ;

Rien que ça ! ce serait la pire
Des injustices envers Toi.
Il est minuit, je me retire.
D'ailleurs, j'ai quelque chose à dire
Au Préfet de Police, moi.

Toi, toutes les femmes sont bonnes,
Tu m'entends ; seules, ou par deux ;
N'appartenant qu'à leurs personnes ;
Quant à tes mouchards... ces colonnes ?
Dis plutôt... ces bâtons merdeux,

Tu vas tous les foutre à la porte ;
Mais, en assurant leurs vieux jours ;
Jusqu'à l'heure où le char emporte,
La dernière... retraite... morte,
Et laisse faire les amours.

Ce sont tes pieds ? Chacun y pisse.
Honneur aux pieds estropiés !
Mais les tiens ! tu sais où ça glisse !
Donc... mon beau Préfet de Police,
Laisse-moi... te laver les pieds...

Assieds-toi ; jette au feu ta honte,
Au vent tous tes affreux papiers !
Fais remplir un bassin en fonte ;
Comme les pieds des douze, compte...
Laisse-moi... te laver les pieds...

Tes pieds aussi noirs que la suie,
Comme moi-même je les eus,
Baignant dans les eaux de sa pluie,
Et souffre que je les essuie
Avec le linge de JÉSUS.

It's summer number twenty-one
and suburbia is slow roasting,
the days turning dreamily
over the spit, as I try
not to set the sheets on fire.
Each night I drench them with
a viscous sweat, wrapping myself
in the smell of conquering Montmartre,
a rush-hour ride on the no. 3 metro line,
close calls with morning joggers
coming from the Parc Monceau.  

Every morning,
lacher is collecting in my damp palms,
and quitter runs in beads down my back.
You must have tasted non plus and
confus beneath my lower lip,
je suis désolé pooling in the dip
of my collarbone, because

You were gone
three days ahead of schedule
in spite of every word held back
in spite of the afternoon drives
and the late night talks, Scott Pilgrim
forgotten on the flat screen, the raspberries
that temporarily stained our fingertips.
Slick truth seeped out somehow, through
their perfect Golden Ratio,
these invincible, nautilus spiral prints
forensically seared to my tongue.

It’s summer number twenty-one.
I will my pores to open up, for floods
of pain jardin lune fleurs printemps
to soak the linen and swallow the words
you left behind, smelling decidedly
American, popped caps of Mexican Coke
and regret.

I.

À présent que c'est fait, dans l'avilissement
Arrangeons-nous chacun notre compartiment
Marchons d'un air auguste et fier ; la honte est bue.
Que tout à composer cette cour contribue,
Tout, excepté l'honneur, tout, hormis les vertus.
Faites vivre, animez, envoyez vos foetus
Et vos nains monstrueux, bocaux d'anatomie
Donne ton crocodile et donne ta momie,
Vieille Égypte ; donnez, tapis-francs, vos filous ;
Shakespeare, ton Falstaff ; noires forêts, vos loups ;
Donne, ô bon Rabelais, ton Grandgousier qui mange ;
Donne ton diable, Hoffmann ; Veuillot, donne ton ange ;
Scapin, apporte-nous Géronte dans ton sac ;
Beaumarchais, prête-nous Bridoison ; que Balzac
Donne Vautrin ; Dumas, la Carconte ; Voltaire,
Son Frélon que l'argent fait parler et fait taire ;
Mabile, les beautés de ton jardin d'hiver ;
Le Sage, cède-nous Gil Blas ; que Gulliver
Donne tout Lilliput dont l'aigre est une mouche,
Et Scarron Bruscambille, et Callot Scaramouche.
Il nous faut un dévot dans ce tripot payen ;
Molière, donne-nous Montalembert. C'est bien,
L'ombre à l'horreur s'accouple, et le mauvais au pire.
Tacite, nous avons de quoi faire l'empire ;
Juvénal, nous avons de quoi faire un sénat.

II.

Ô Ducos le gascon, ô Rouher l'auvergnat,
Et vous, juifs, Fould Shylock, Sibour Iscariote,
Toi Parieu, toi Bertrand, horreur du patriote,
Bauchart, bourreau douceâtre et proscripteur plaintif,
Baroche, dont le nom n'est plus qu'un vomitif,
Ô valets solennels, ô majestueux fourbes,
Travaillant votre échine à produire des courbes,
Bas, hautains, ravissant les Daumiers enchantés
Par vos convexités et vos concavités,
Convenez avec moi, vous tous qu'ici je nomme,
Que Dieu dans sa sagesse a fait exprès cet homme
Pour régner sur la France, ou bien sur Haïti.
Et vous autres, créés pour grossir son parti,
Philosophes gênés de cuissons à l'épaule,
Et vous, viveurs râpés, frais sortis de la geôle,
Saluez l'être unique et providentiel,
Ce gouvernant tombé d'une trappe du ciel,
Ce césar moustachu, gardé par cent guérites,
Qui sait apprécier les gens et les mérites,
Et qui, prince admirable et grand homme en effet,
Fait Poissy sénateur et Clichy sous-préfet.

III.

Après quoi l'on ajuste au fait la théorie
« A bas les mots ! à bas loi, liberté, patrie !
Plus on s'aplatira, plus ou prospérera.
Jetons au feu tribune et presse, et cætera.

Depuis quatre-vingt-neuf les nations sont ivres.
Les faiseurs de discours et les faiseurs de livres
Perdent tout ; le poëte est un fou dangereux ;
Le progrès ment, le ciel est vide, l'art est creux,
Le monde est mort. Le peuple ? un âne qui se cabre !
La force, c'est le droit. Courbons-nous. Gloire au sabre !
À bas les Washington ! vivent les Attila ! »
On a des gens d'esprit pour soutenir cela.

Oui, qu'ils viennent tous ceux qui n'ont ni cœur ni flamme,
Qui boitent de l'honneur et qui louchent de l'âme ;
Oui, leur soleil se lève et leur messie est né.
C'est décrété, c'est fait, c'est dit, c'est canonné
La France est mitraillée, escroquée et sauvée.
Le hibou Trahison pond gaîment sa couvée.

IV.

Et partout le néant prévaut ; pour déchirer
Notre histoire, nos lois, nos droits, pour dévorer
L'avenir de nos fils et les os de nos pères,
Les bêtes de la nuit sortent de leurs repaires
Sophistes et soudards resserrent leur réseau
Les Radetzky flairant le gibet du museau,
Les Giulay, poil tigré, les Buol, face verte,
Les Haynau, les Bomba, rôdent, la gueule ouverte,
Autour du genre humain qui, pâle et garrotté,
Lutte pour la justice et pour la vérité ;
Et de Paris à Pesth, du Tibre aux monts Carpathes,
Sur nos débris sanglants rampent ces mille-pattes.

V.

Du lourd dictionnaire où Beauzée et Batteux
Ont versé les trésors de leur bon sens goutteux,
Il faut, grâce aux vainqueurs, refaire chaque lettre.
Ame de l'homme, ils ont trouvé moyen de mettre
Sur tes vieilles laideurs un tas de mots nouveaux,
Leurs noms. L'hypocrisie aux yeux bas et dévots
À nom Menjaud, et vend Jésus dans sa chapelle ;
On a débaptisé la honte, elle s'appelle
Sibour ; la trahison, Maupas ; l'assassinat
Sous le nom de Magnan est membre du Sénat ;
Quant à la lâcheté, c'est Hardouin qu'on la nomme ;
Riancey, c'est le mensonge, il arrive de Rome
Et tient la vérité renfermée en son puits ;
La platitude a nom Montlaville-Chapuis ;
La prostitution, ingénue, est princesse ;
La férocité, c'est Carrelet ; la bassesse
Signe Rouher, avec Delangle pour greffier.
Ô muse, inscris ces noms. Veux-tu qualifier
La justice vénale, atroce, abjecte et fausse ?
Commence à Partarieu pour finir par Lafosse.
J'appelle Saint-Arnaud, le meurtre dit : c'est moi.
Et, pour tout compléter par le deuil et l'effroi,
Le vieux calendrier remplace sur sa carte
La Saint-Barthélemy par la Saint-Bonaparte.

Quant au peuple, il admire et vote ; on est suspect
D'en douter, et Paris écoute avec respect
Sibour et ses sermons, Trolong et ses troplongues.
Les deux Napoléon s'unissent en diphthongues,
Et Berger entrelace en un chiffre hardi
Le boulevard Montmartre entre Arcole et Lodi.
Spartacus agonise en un bagne fétide ;
On chasse Thémistocle, on expulse Aristide,
On jette Daniel dans la fosse aux lions ;
Et maintenant ouvrons le ventre aux millions !

Jersey, novembre 1852.

yellow vases shan't hold Montmartre coffee nor goldilocks no more,
brilliant sunshine wrapped around thy hair, unmoving in this unending fall.
yellow paint and quivering ink-eating, masking something for sure:
just make this bread, add spicy Dijon must-dust for show.
eat it all up, absinthe's place in your heart and soul,
toxic waste in your yellowish carnation, oozing out lemon holes.
will he really swallow the missing piece of his own (...)?
was he really the type to ponder & slaughter the only thing that he truly owned?

Madame, on dit que les bons comptes
Font les bons amis. Soit, comptons...
Comme dans les comptes des contes,
Par bœufs, par veaux et par moutons ;

Pris un jour une cigarette
De vous, dois : quatre-vingt-dix bœufs ;
À ton bouquet, une fleurette,
Peut-être une, peut-être deux,

Dois : quatre-vingts bœufs ; pour l'essence
Que ta lampe brûlait la nuit,
Mille moutons que je recense
Près du berger que son chien suit.

Pris à ta cuisine adorable
Un bout de pain, un doigt de vin,
Dois : une vache vénérable
Avec sa crèche de sapin.

Mangé sept de tes souveraines
Et célestes pommes au lard,
Dois : le taureau, roi des arènes,
Le plus férocement couillard.

Pour ton savon d'un blanc d'ivoire,
Je conviens qu'en l'usant, j'eus tort,
Dois : tous les veaux du champ de foire
Qui prononcent ME le plus fort.

Marché, la nuit, dans ta chaussure
Dont j'aplatissais le contour,
Dois : le prince de la luxure,
Le bouc le plus propre à l'amour.

Pour l'eau bue à ta cruche pleine,
La nuit, sur ton lit sans rideau,
Dois : le bélier avec sa laine
Le plus vigoureux buveur d'eau.

Pour le retour de tes semelles
Sur les trottoirs de ton quartier,
Dois : la chèvre dont les mamelles
Allaiteraient le monde entier ;

Pour ta clef tournant dans ta porte
Dois, avec les champs reverdis,
Tout agneau que la brebis porte,
Sans compter ceux du paradis.

Constatez mon exactitude,
Voyez si j'ai fait quelque erreur,
Quand on n'a guère d'habitude,
On ne compte pas sans terreur.

Hélas ! oui, sans terreur, madame,
Car je n'ai ni bœufs, ni moutons,
De veaux que les vœux de mon âme,
Et ceux-là, nous les omettons.

Penserez-vous que je lésine,
Si je reste, j'en suis penaud,
Le maquereau de Valentine...
Quelle Valentine ?... Renault.

Quoi ! je serais de la famille !
Bon ! me voilà joli garçon !
Ça ne vient pas à ta cheville...
Et c'est un bien petit poisson.

Que ce maquereau qu'on te donne...
Mieux vaudrait... un coq sur l'ergot...
Tiens, mettons Dauphin, ma Mignonne,
C'est la même chose en argot.

Entre Montmartre et Montparnasse,
L'enfant de la place Maubert,
Pour ces beaux messieurs de la Nasse
Dit : Dos, on Dos fin, ou Dos vert.

Dauphin, c'est ainsi que l'on nomme
Le fils d'un roi... D'ailleurs, je sais
Assez distinguer un nom d'homme
Du nom d'un port... en bon français.

Pourtant... Dauphin ne sonne guère,
Maquereau, lui, qu'il sonne bien !
Il vous a comme un air de guerre,
Et fait-on la guerre avec rien ?

Il sonne bien, tu le confesses,
(Tant pis si vous vous étonnez)
Comme une claque sur vos fesses,
De la main de qui ? devinez.

De ton mari ?... Vous êtes fille.
De ton amant ? de ton amant !
Ah ! Vous êtes bien trop gentille
Pour chérir ce nom alarmant.

De ton homme ? Il n'est pas si bête.
Devinez, voyons, devinez...
Eh !... de la main de ton poète
Plus légère... qu'un pied de nez !

Oui, ça ne fait bondir personne ;
Dauphin, c'est mou, c'est ennuyeux,
Tandis que : Maquereau ! ça sonne !
Décidément, ça sonne mieux !

I can almost recall a time when I didn’t care... there was so much life laid up in store

frivolous days tossed aside:
grisly hangovers of endless nights,

I used to observe the characters of Paris from a window in Chez Camille... sun light flashing through the green of horse chestnut trees lining wide Montmartre streets-

well heeled parents guiding their chattering children past a
staggering drunk, **** marks up his trouser leg, greasy hair clinging to his beard

he’s avoided too by those girls in summer dresses, all legs and laughter and dreams

they are ogled by the old men drinking coffee outside cafes, complaining  about their busy wives...

back in that time when our choices could send us anywhere-
careening into old cinemas watching movies with wide eyes,
building driftwood fires on deserted beaches
or writhing with nameless shapes in little rooms
washed in strawberry *****

back before our choices defined us and hardened into everything we are.

back when right and wrong were only whispering
and the streets of Paris called my name

I conquered every feeiing that ever felt real to me and
knelt at the feet of statues looking for deliverance,

Blood on her wings but an angel flies in and sings to me,
I cling to the tin foil

In the tack room
satin and a whisper of whips.


I unclip from the apron and try to get a game on
But the statues refuse to okay my play.

and she walks like she's sinking
on the brink or is it me thinking it's her thinking it's me?

Montmartre
next stop Kama Sutra
all aboard
tickets please,
fasten your seat belt

It wasn't that at all
It just
felt like it.


But when you start to feel and cease to kneel it all becomes incredible,
I'm a thousand lira nearer to Pisa,
she's a lot closer to me.

The Lost Generation
  now lost online
  Paris, a web of postings

Its cafes are fed
  fresh verses unread
   —new Seines left overflowing

(Montmartre Paris: March, 2009)

WHEN I KNEW IT WASN’T LOVE
While walking through Montmartre,
And only thinking about two
Is when I realized Paris was
Waiting for me at home with you

When I spent the day—
Preoccupied by your skin
And it’s sweet over side.

When you spent it bored—
And soaking in cigarettes
Leaving questions in the tide.

When on the train
You took the window seat
And said it was beautiful

When I sat by the aisle
Because you were my window
And to me the world was dull

When I paused to let you walk first.
When you quickened your step
Because you knew I would.

It’s like I am a guitar and the fingers
of lovers are strumming the strings
Spinning my emotions,
Commanding me to stay,
She said

We walked the busy streets of Montmartre
Its bright lights as warm as our love.
A Paris to full of lovers
overflowing in this spring night.
To find us a little studio place.
In a Paris with no space.

She stops for a kiss
Its fingers are making me
sing love songs.
I am so in love with you,
So in love,
she sighed

We walked from room to room.
seeking the pure light from the north.
To touch her beauty as I painted her.
She poses for the magic of my brush.

I feel like it is you inside me
Your fingers playing my heart
Allowing it to beat and flow blood
Keeping it safe and loved
she said*

I entered her through
, the door of her heart
Which she opened for only me.
And there In Paris
that long ago springtime
I found my home
Where I would never leave.

Non, Liberté ! non, Peuple, il ne faut pas qu'il meure !
Oh ! certes, ce serait trop simple, en vérité,
Qu'après avoir brisé les lois, et sonné l'heure
Où la sainte pudeur au ciel a remonté ;

Qu'après avoir gagné sa sanglante gageure,
Et vaincu par l'embûche et le glaive et le feu ;
Qu'après son guet-apens, ses meurtres, son parjure,
Son faux serment, soufflet sur la face de Dieu ;

Qu'après avoir traîné la France, au cœur frappée,
Et par les pieds liée, à son immonde char,
Cet infâme en fût quitte avec un coup d'épée
Au cou comme Pompée, au flanc comme César !

Non ! il est l'assassin qui rôde dans les plaines ;
Il a tué, sabré, mitraillé sans remords,
Il fit la maison vide, il fit les tombes pleines,
Il marche, il va, suivi par l'œil fixe des morts ;

À cause de cet homme, empereur éphémère,
Le fils n'a plus de père et l'enfant plus d'espoir,
La veuve à genoux pleure et sanglote, et la mère
N'est plus qu'un spectre assis sous un long voile noir ;

Pour filer ses habits royaux, sur les navettes
On met du fil trempé dans le sang qui coula ;
Le boulevard Montmartre a fourni ses cuvettes,
Et l'on teint son manteau dans cette pourpre-là ;

Il vous jette à Cayenne, à l'Afrique, aux sentines,
Martyrs, héros d'hier et forçats d'aujourd'hui !
Le couteau ruisselant des rouges guillotines
Laisse tomber le sang goutte à goutte sur lui ;

Lorsque la trahison, sa complice livide,
Vient et frappe à sa porte, il fait signe d'ouvrir ;
Il est le fratricide ! Il est le parricide ! -
Peuples, c'est pour cela qu'il ne doit pas mourir !

Gardons l'homme vivant. Oh ! châtiment superbe !
Oh ! S'il pouvait un jour passer par le chemin,
Nu, courbé, frissonnant, comme au vent tremble l'herbe.
Sous l'exécration de tout le genre humain !

Étreint par son passé tout rempli de ses crimes,
Comme par un carcan tout hérissé de clous,
Cherchant les lieux profonds, les forêts, les abîmes,
Pâle, horrible, effaré, reconnu par les loups ;

Dans quelque bagne vil n'entendant que sa chaîne,
Seul, toujours seul, parlant en vain aux rochers sourds,
Voyant autour de lui le silence et la haine,
Des hommes nulle part et des spectres toujours ;

Vieillissant, rejeté par la mort comme indigne,
Tremblant sous la nuit noire, affreux sous le ciel bleu... -
Peuples, écartez-vous ! cet homme porte un signe :
Laissez passer Caïn ! Il appartient à Dieu.

Jersey, le 14 novembre.

Sur les tuiles où se hasarde
Le chat guettant l'oiseau qui boit,
De mon balcon une mansarde
Entre deux tuyaux s'aperçoit.

Pour la parer d'un faux bien-être,
Si je mentais comme un auteur,
Je pourrais faire à sa fenêtre
Un cadre de pois de senteur,

Et vous y montrer Rigolette
Riant à son petit miroir,
Dont le tain rayé ne reflète
Que la moitié de son oeil noir ;

Ou, la robe encor sans agrafe,
Gorge et cheveux au vent, Margot
Arrosant avec sa carafe
Son jardin planté dans un *** ;

Ou bien quelque jeune poète
Qui scande ses vers sibyllins,
En contemplant la silhouette
De Montmartre et de ses moulins.

Par malheur, ma mansarde est vraie ;
Il n'y grimpe aucun liseron,
Et la vitre y fait voir sa taie,
Sous l'ais verdi d'un vieux chevron.

Pour la grisette et pour l'artiste,
Pour le veuf et pour le garçon,
Une mansarde est toujours triste :
Le grenier n'est beau qu'en chanson.

Jadis, sous le comble dont l'angle
Penchait les fronts pour le baiser,
L'amour, content d'un lit de sangle,
Avec Suzon venait causer.

Mais pour ouater notre joie,
Il faut des murs capitonnés,
Des flots de dentelle et de soie,
Des lits par Monbro festonnés.

Un soir, n'étant pas revenue,
Margot s'attarde au mont Breda,
Et Rigolette entretenue
N'arrose plus son réséda.

Voilà longtemps que le poète,
Las de prendre la rime au vol,
S'est fait reporter de gazette,
Quittant le ciel pour l'entresol.

Et l'on ne voit contre la vitre
Qu'une vieille au maigre profil,
Devant Minet, qu'elle chapitre,
Tirant sans cesse un bout de fil.