The Lovers’ Chronicle 6 May – all – birth of Gaston Leroux – art by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner – verse by Randall Jarrell

06 May 2023 By Rhett 0 In Love, Poems, Songs

Dear Zazie, Here is today’s Lovers’ Chronicle from Mac Tag. Do you have all of that? Rhett

The Lovers’ Almanac

Dear Muse,

see at last, all that could

be wrung from the years

spent in darkness

the verse is the purpose

to wake to, to live in

the world and its life

dancin’ with dreams

so this is all that can be offered,

my vision, in stories and visuals

and my heart sealed for you

had to learn this,

only write them

if you know

what you want to say

and i want to say

not one thing,

but everything

not just the reason,

this is the way it is

to one who can hear

this is the source

of everlastin’ attraction,

for those who want,

who dare to have it all

inspiration
wrung from experience
pain and pleasure, words
flung about, the only remedy
nothin’ comes from nothin’

the night
to wake to,
our dreams,
variations

on the way it could be

a scene on a canvas,
verse in a letter
sealed for us

the reason for it all

all
of you, for you,
about you

callin’ to you
and a feelin’
you must be callin’ too

your voice, a song
not a phantom…

all about followin’
the inspiration
come what may

all the words
to be written
all the unfound
melodies

all the moments
to stop and try
to capture the light

all the time
that is left
to be spent
goin’ wherever
the muses take us

Yet another from the archives. I once had it. I wish I still had……

All of That

Trust and belief
And hope and faith
Beauty and truth
And all of that

Dreams and passion
And awe and bliss
Magic and light
And all of that

Fun and wonder

And lust and laughs
Rapture and love
And all of that

Man and woman
Lovers and friends
Lucky are they
Who have all that

Today is the birthay of Gaston Leroux (Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux, Paris, 6 May 1868 – 15 April 1927 Nice); journalist and author. In the English-speaking world, perhaps best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l’Opéra, 1910). Le Fantôme de l’Opéra was first published as a serialization in Le Gaulois from 23 September 1909, to 8 January 1910. It was published in volume form in late March 1910 by Pierre Lafitte. The novel is partly inspired by historical events at the Paris Opera during the nineteenth century and an apocryphal tale concerning the use of a former ballet pupil’s skeleton in Carl Maria von Weber’s 1841 production of Der Freischütz. It has been successfully adapted into various stage and film adaptations, most notable of which are the 1925 film depiction featuring Lon Chaney, and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1986 musical. The love story triangle between the Phantom, Christine and Raoul, is one of my favorite books. His 1907 novel Le mystère de la chambre jaune (The Mystery of the Yellow Room) is one of the most celebrated locked-room mysteries.

Le Mystère de la chambre jaune, 1907

Il n’existe pas d’arts mineurs. Seules existent les noces étranges du conscient et de l’inconscience, la foudre exquise produite par le contact de la sagesse et de ce schizophrène que chacun porte en soi et dont il a généralement honte.
La poésie, c’est le monstre, né de ces noces mystérieuses, de ce mariage brutal entre la surprise et les habitudes. Et peu importe la taille et la force musculaire du monstre.
L’essentiel est qu’il naisse. Je n’en demande pas davantage.

Today is the birthday of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (Aschaffenburg 6 May 1880 – 15 June 1938 Frauenkirch-Wildboden, Switzerland); expressionist painter and printmaker. One of the founders of the artists group Die Brücke or “The Bridge”, a key group leading to the foundation of Expressionism in 20th-century art. In 1933, his work was branded as “degenerate” by the Nazis and in 1937 over 600 of his works were sold or destroyed. In 1938 he died by suicide (gunshot).


Photographic self-portrait 1919

Gallery

Marzella (1909–10)

Vier Holzplastiken, 1912, Dallas Museum of Art

Kirchner’s Berlin studio in 1915

Self-Portrait as a Soldier (1915)

Standing Nude with Hat, 1910

Landscape in Graubünden with Sun Rays

Archers, 1935-1937

Böhmischer Waldsee, 1911

Dancers, 1906, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Sitting Woman, 1907
Dodo and her brother, c. 1908, Smith College Museum of Art
Nudes, ca. 1908, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Woman with Black Hat, 1908, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Head of a Woman, ca. 1909, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Tavern, 1909
Naked Playing People, 1910
Fränzi in front of Carved Chair, 1910, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Portrait of a Woman, 1911
Nollendorfplatz, 1912
Berlin Street Scene, 1913
Street, Berlin (1913), one of a series on this theme, depicting prostitutes
Potsdamer Platz, 1914
Brandenburger Tor, 1915
1916, Königstein Station, Städel
At the Table, 1916, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Self-portrait as a
Sick Person, 1918
Two Brothers, 1921
Old Woman and Young Woman, 1921, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
‘View of Basel and
the Rhine, 1921
The Visit–Couple and Newcomer, 1922
The Sleigh Ride, 1923, Germanisches Nationalmuseum
Self portrait, 1925
Snowy landscape, 1930
Violett House in Front of a Snowy Mountain, 1938

Today is the birthday of Randall Jarrell (Nashville May 6, 1914 – October 14, 1965 Chapel Hill); poet, literary critic, children’s author, essayist, novelist, and the 11th Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, a position that now bears the title Poet Laureate.

Blood for a Stranger (1942)
- I see at last that all the knowledge
- I wrung from the darkness — that the darkness flung me —
- Is worthless as ignorance: nothing comes from nothing,
  The darkness from the darkness. Pain comes from the darkness
  And we call it wisdom. It is pain.
  - “90 North,” lines 28-32
- The nurse is the night
  To wake to, to die in: and the day I live,
  The world and its life are her dreams.
  - “Variations,” lines 31-33
- And the world said, Child, you will not be missed.
  You are cheaper than a wrench, your back is a road;
  Your death is a table in a book.
  You had our wit, our heart was sealed to you:
  Man is the judgment of the world.
  - “Variations,” lines 40-44