96 Comments

The Sleeper In The Valley is such a wonderful yet heart rending poem by the great Arthur Rimbaud read by you with such beautiful care. As you recited the poem you conjured the words at the right soulful pitch as if they radiated from Rimbaud himself. Enjoy Gothenburg Sweden. Sweden = Ingmar Bergman. I am sure Bergman admired Rimbaud. Anyway, thank you for this wonderful reading of The Sleeper In The Valley*~~*

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I did a French degree over 40 years ago and listening to you share your knowledge of Rimbaud is an absolute treat and a throwback to those lectures and tutorials. I have to say though that I’m getting so much more from hearing your rich discoveries than I did back then. You’re so deeply personally invested plus your observations on the different perspectives of the various biographers and translators is something I have long found fascinating. I’m really enjoying these little chats 💐❤️

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founding

Very beautiful, with the poem's message lightly resting in the air for a while after the reading.

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Yes - civil war - yes - no so hard especially when you are a mom

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The poet wrote poetry over his existence.

With the new AI joining the traditional fiction vs. fact debate, truth may be in the bushes or in the wind.

As for AI, I am a little surprised that AI has recently been able to produce both poetry and poetic language.

AI is very altruistic and service-oriented, but AI itself seems to have no redeeming qualities.

For another thing, I don't think AI can speak falsely about its own family, including the finite nature of life.

I marvel at the talent of conventional human fiction to write things that are completely untrue from beginning to end.

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Thank you so much, Patti. The words of the poem are so strongly visual and visceral that they linger in the air and in my my and my heart. I will listen again. And I have purchased most of the books you have talked about....so I will be able to read this work again. Cairo has such a sweet and peaceful face and you have a heart that knows how to share. Peace, love, C.

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The civil war soldiers and the peach blossoms! The moment Andre is thought to be dead ( by Napoleon!) on the battlefield in War And Peace but in the narration Tolstoy has him seeing the vast blue of the sky and feeling everything

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Hi Patti, Love the raincoat. Looks so comfy.

Thank you for sharing the poem "Sleeper in the Valley". I could picture this poor young soul alone with nobody around to hold his hand as he slipped away.

Thank you for the information regarding Rimbaud's father. So interesting.

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I have no grandmother Patty, I just come here to listen to your voice and it makes me calm and fills me with composure. Thanks for being so kind and loving. 🥰🥰🥰

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You have a great sense of history and such a respect for documents? As a historian myself that makes my heart swoon ❤️

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What would we do without you!!! I know you’ll poo poo this in humble wisdom, but really thank you for illuminating us. A good researcher is a great gift.

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founding

🎈Patti, have you ever done a drawing of or inspired by Rimbaud? or of Cairo? I have a small catalog of your drawings and comments on '9.11 that I enjoy viewing and reading published by The Andy Warhol Museum (2002); it includes your poem, "Babelfield" with a quote by Rimbaud, "we know how to give our whole life everyday"

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Thanks, Patti.

The other day I was thinking how my youth came attached with optimism, idealism, and a fascination with every new discovery and experience. Poe, Whitman, Rimbaud, Plath, Ginsburg (met twice), Ferlinghetti, Plath, Sexton, etc., were all part of my youthful literary journey.

As I aged, the details of life's rigors and the consequences of not quite getting it all right began to occupy and bias my outlook which I filtered through the common defense mechanism requiring everything to be truthful and factual.

Happily, I caught myself in time not to become 'that person' who seems to always be giving a trial court summation or evangelizing a political soup-de-jour.

There is that movie quote written by screenwriters James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend" (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance) which does suggest there is some value to legend and myth especially to those who don't hold creativity hostage to truth.

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Thank you Patti. I love the rigorousness of your approach to research, it's important to see things as they should be seen. The poem was beautiful.

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Thank you for reminding me of this poem (I had not forgotten it!), which pierced my soul in my early teens; simple words and images, so right, and which resonate so strongly in all their unjust tragedy . Alone and derisory in the beauty of the world, indifferent, absolute... In these times of madness everywhere, and of feelings of powerlessness, I often think about it, we know that such heartbreaking realities are multiplying. It is a great power to know how to express what is breaking everyone's heart.

I don't write often here, but I am present to listen to you and read your correspondence... it's an RV for the life of the spirit and the heart.

A little later, around 14 /15 years old, I discovered the poem "Sensation", which you also presented here a short time ago, thanks to Robert Charlebois, who made a very beautiful song out of it with a magnificent musical setting; (I listened to it over and over again with my "pretty holiday neighbour" and we also learned it on the guitar - in such a way as to dull our mothers who ended up knowing it by heart. ... as well as G.Brassens and some songs from Maxime Leforestier's 1st LP, which also contained some very beautiful songs, I suppose you know it even if it is not of international dimension?)

Your cat is always so peaceful, it's comforting.

Friendly thoughts to all of you and thank to you for creating this path and shelter for encounters and links to poetry - I don't remember who said that it is the master of all arts...?

I was listening this afternoon to "songs for Drella", I love this album.

High school is far away now but I keep on revising my English here... I like that you don't speak too fast ;)) I still lose some words and explanations but I understand the meaning.

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What a touching poem; a young life lost too soon at what cost? I love these chats!

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