Song of the World-Soul

By Anthony Petruccello https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUXRgD1keOk

The Wall Knower

By Ayrton Monteiro Detail from "Belshazzar's Feast" by Rembrandt, 1635-1638 In days old they the knowers Shaped the walls with inscriptions blue Of also old lessons high That as night-hawks flew Despairing the children among The graves and songs. Their shadowy letters glistening The twilight white was not enough To uncover its secret. But he …

André Gide – On Nietzsche: Letter to Angèle

By Fergus Cullen Gide in 1893 Today marks seventy years since the death of André Gide. What follows is a translation—the first into English, it seems—of the twelfth of his “Lettres à Angèle,” published irregularly in L’Hermitage between 1898 and 1900, and collected in Prétextes (Paris: Mercure de France, 1919): see pp. 166–82. The titular …

Locating the Edge

By Hayden Church "The Builders (House Wreckers in June)" by Charles E. Burchfield, 1931 A beatitudeundivined instatutes & laws.But that is all dogs do.A heeler, His palm:someone is Godfor the next two thousand years.I will read The Gospels withoutwaiting for the time to come,when on a crackling paththe New Word will hail down& arrange the …

Remy de Gourmont – Steps Upon the Sand

Translated by Fergus Cullen Les Pas sur le sable (Paris: Société Littéraire de France, 1919), like many of de Gourmont’s works, was published posthumously under the supervision of his brother, Jean. The booklet runs to only 61 pages, and is ornamented with woodcuts by Alexandre Noll. Here we catch de Gourmont in a variety of …

crack an dawn

By Christian Mack "December Storm" by Charles Ephraim Burchfield, 1941-1960 —and, fed-up, the sun walks outand i knew that he wouldn’t be coming back,this time. I soaked my hair inphosphorous and piss and iodine,gathered felled and dead leavesand the other chaff we keepgraveside; i tore down the shedand buried the shovels, i chokedthe birds and planted their …

A Taste for Imperfection: Selections from Remy de Gourmont

Translated by Fergus Cullen "Clair de lune" by Félix Vallotton, c. 1895 If beauty promises happiness, it is always imperfection that keeps the promise. Le Pas sur le sable (Paris, 1919), p. 19. Note Remy de Gourmont rose to prominence as a Symboliste poet, and to preeminence as a critic. He is rarely called a …

The Art of Hunting

By Hayden Church "Still Life with Dead Game" by Willem van Aelst, 1661 Across the cattailled pond, clouds overcastLily pad the darling ocean glass sky,Hawkish portent becoming reborn inAubergine-specked shimmering nightfall.The hunting Bloodhound perceives the mallard’s grace,Spectacular array of mottled downRavaged viciously for the act’s beauty,Taming the fowl for morningtide’s glee.Blood-soil cotton sprouts oppugned perfectly—Chance …

Three Odes and a Lament

By Phillip Blank "View of Toledo" by El Greco, 1599-1600 I - Ode To The Wind  Look how her golden curls are tossed like salad leavesIn the evening breeze,How those thick folds flutter and danceTo smells from bakery and lake.  The tree tops rustle kind-lily,Bushy heads twittering to easy hush;Welcomed in the heat of summer’s day.  Airless rooms …

The Wheels

By Liam Holbrook "Dynamism of a Car" by Luigi Russolo, 1913 Flashing colors echo, break sound,And taste like the infinite sky!An expanding-all-ways wave where colorFuses the one with the other; whereIncestuously they bind themselves to movementWhen the sound breaks airAs wheels turn gentlyOn the asphalt seared.As movement breaks under momentum's gainAll bends, all bleeds and …