Thursday, April 3, 2014

RIMBAUD ON JAVA

rimbaud on java



what means a word compared to
what happens between heaven and earth (jürgen ploog)

forget paris
                        pupils shine
towards inside
skin burns
towards inside
hair stings    
to be ablaze

frees himself with maniac
thunderstorms of sound

farewell mother away from charleville
arrested in vienna deported to italy
in hamburg he falls into the claws of
dutch fishers of men

one must enslave the stars
and off to java as foreign legionnaire

the island in the scent of fever
as soon as landed he throws away
all abominations uniform and musket
sink into the swamp behind the barrack

he disappears into the jungle
of silent villages and rice terraces
smokes kretek tobacco in the shadow of the sky
circle children and buffalos
he with the women listens
to the hammering and croaking
a cheerful intermezzo
on the way to
charleville

later escape on a drunken ship
at the cape of good hope he jumps
into whirling water without a word

swimming he looks for the
unkown