POEM OF THE DAY - "Venus Anadyomene" by Arthur Rimbaud

Arthur Rimbaud is one of the most influential French poets of the 19th century.  His unusual free-verse style of poetry has served as a primary influence to many of the great poets and artistic movements of the 20th century including French Symbolism, Surrealism, Beat counter-culture, and Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan and Patti Smith.

His name is frequently associated with counter-cultural movements and schools of thought; this is because he himself was counter-cultural in his day.  His poetry is inspired and suggestive; his personality was caustic and unstable. Though brilliant, during his life his peers regarded him as unsophisticated, arrogant, and perverted.

We have included several of Rimbaud's poems in the eNothing blog; including "The Drunken Boat" which stands as a "Top 100 of all time" entry.  You can search for them easily.

Enjoy the ulcer.

Venus Anadyomene

by Arthur Rimbaud

As from a green zinc coffin, a woman’s
Head with brown hair heavily pomaded
Emerges slowly and stupidly from an old bathtub,
With bald patches rather badly hidden;

Then the fat gray neck, broad shoulder-blades
Sticking out; a short back which curves in and bulges;
Then the roundness of the buttocks seems to take off;
The fat under the skin appears in slabs:

The spine is a bit red; and the whole thing has a smell
Strangely horrible; you notice especially
Odd details you’d have to see with a magnifying glass…

The buttocks bear two engraved words: CLARA VENUS;
—And that whole body moves and extends its broad rump
Hideously beautiful with an ulcer on the anus.