Rimbaud Lived at 165 Kings Road in Reading, Berkshire, from August to December, 1874
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
Two times today he passed the mansion where
A tamed down Arthur Rimbaud stayed up in
CHT162719 Arthur Rimbaud (1854-91) in his Bed (oil on canvas by Rossman, Jef (19th Century)
oil on canvas
Private Collection
Archives Charmet
French, out of copyright
The attic. Arthur didn’t even snare
Attention for a moment. No cult sin
Was caused (because the passing one had things
To think about much more important than
A long dead acned kid). Instead, the wings
Of poetry filled up grown thoughts. This man
Was plotting out a sonnet he could write,
Creation Rimbaud would have sneered at, brat,
That Arthur. Nobler than an attic height
This building disapproved the young one’s scat.
The mansion, far more like a sonnet, soon
