As on the Smoked Walls of Lascaux
“To judge simply by their writings, Verlaine
and Rimbaud had not an active political idea
to juggle between them—‘I don’t read the
French papers any more,’ Verlaine wrote to
a friend in June 1873. ‘But what harm in that?’
If they were anarchists, it was the anarchism
of insobriety, bad company, irregular meals.
But it might be argued that Rimbaud was the
first great poet to inscribe his writing with
the notion that the personal is political.” ~ James Campbell
Did Rimbaud and Verlaine meet Karl Marx?
Who cares? Great poetry ain’t Communist
Or any other -ist. Its force and sparks
Are made from fog and psychoactive mist.
Imagine if you can, Picketty as
An epic poet, or a posy of
Iambics by Stalin. Poets’ pizzazz
Comes not from Naziism’s push and shove
But from the forelock of a Gaza boy
In candlelight. Surrealism is
Not doctrines. We derive its twisted joy
From heads sawed off by Coca-Cola fizz,
From brains stabbed through with unexpected dreams
And passions carved inside a heart’s extremes.