{"id":2396,"date":"2012-05-03T16:23:03","date_gmt":"2012-05-03T16:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=2396"},"modified":"2012-05-03T18:47:57","modified_gmt":"2012-05-03T18:47:57","slug":"james-naiden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/james-naiden\/","title":{"rendered":"James Naiden"},"content":{"rendered":"

Henri Rousseau<\/strong><\/p>\n

(1844-1910)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Un tout petit oiseau<\/em><\/p>\n

Sur l\u2019epaule d\u2019un ange<\/em><\/p>\n

Ils chantent le louange<\/em><\/p>\n

Du gentil Rousseau . . .<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2013 Guillaume Apollinaire<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You, gentilhomme<\/em>, sing bright colors<\/p>\n

Of faded years into this ennui,<\/p>\n

Through a dull present, of trackless<\/p>\n

Locomotives passing through as I sit<\/p>\n

In this nocturnal theater waiting<\/p>\n

For the curtain to rise.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Vases of volcanic ash belch melodically<\/p>\n

On either side of the stage, hanging<\/p>\n

By cords of black hair<\/p>\n

In which caterpillars wave tiny violins<\/p>\n

To an audience of ethereal flies.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now, I expect to be served<\/p>\n

A mean of explicit contradictions<\/p>\n

As I contemplate your simple art,<\/p>\n

Clear \u2013 oh, so clear \u2013 as a spider<\/p>\n

Nibbling on one\u2019s leg, quietly.<\/p>\n

The curtain suddenly drops to the floor<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With peals of raucous clatter: the chandeliers<\/p>\n

Twist restlessly, straining forward to see you \u2013<\/p>\n

Their whitened eyes growing dim in shrouds of black tears.<\/p>\n

The stage is empty, except for you<\/p>\n

With your violin of cheese & your bow of bread.<\/p>\n

You turn abruptly, and summon<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On stage an invisible orchestra:<\/p>\n

They struggle on \u2013 and, all at last<\/p>\n

(I can hear their scruffing on the boards \u2013<\/p>\n

You turn to the audience of one:<\/p>\n

I rise and bow smartly<\/p>\n

To you and your colleagues of quaint memory
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0Merci, Monsieur Naiden.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pour vous, nous jouerons<\/em><\/p>\n

Queque chose de special \u2013 La Marseillaise!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You direct an orchestra of seals, now visible,<\/p>\n

Bewhiskered and bedecked in your example:<\/p>\n

Noble, in the manner of Le Douanier<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Your violin is asleep on the podium<\/p>\n

While your bow soars<\/p>\n

With aesthetic patriotism.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I watch attentively, as a forest of fervent notes<\/p>\n

Marches past, their black boots smiling<\/p>\n

In the aisles full of empty wine bottles.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finally, I want to applaud,<\/p>\n

As I resume my seat of warm daffodils,<\/p>\n

But \u2013 the stage is suddenly deserted \u2013<\/p>\n

And I am sinking through my chair!<\/p>\n

The daffodils are turning to ashes,<\/p>\n

Cold ashes that feel of old flour \u2013<\/p>\n

And my hands are melting<\/p>\n

In this oven of memories!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

James Naiden<\/strong> was Born 1943, American, currently in Minneapolis, MN.\u00a0 His most recent book The Chafings of Mortals<\/em><\/a>, a novel was published\u00a0December 2011.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Henri Rousseau (1844-1910)   Un tout petit oiseau Sur l\u2019epaule d\u2019un ange Ils chantent le louange Du gentil Rousseau . . . \u00a0\u2013 Guillaume Apollinaire   You, gentilhomme, sing bright colors Of faded years into this ennui, Through a dull present, of trackless Locomotives passing through as I sit In this nocturnal theater waiting For […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2396"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2406,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396\/revisions\/2406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}