at the last exhibition

This is Constantine's artlog. He posted his poems in his own artlog forum for several years. He named the forum "Constantinople" and described it as "A byzantine journey through life's labyrinth."
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constantine
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at the last exhibition

Post by constantine » May 14th, 2011, 12:42 pm

at the last exhibition
reality had been laid before us,
in the egyptian quarter
a street scene was recreated
fifty egyptian donkeys were imported
the walls were painted to look dirty
the attention to detail was so thorough
so meticulously orchestrated, as to
give the illusion of reality
while still being part of
some other reality that was so real
so all-encompassing, as to be confused
by all who lived within its hypnotic power
of being the legitimate heir
to the kingdom that reality represents
or, at least that is what the guide book told us

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stilltrucking
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Location: Oz or somepLace like Kansas

Re: at the last exhibition

Post by stilltrucking » May 19th, 2011, 10:42 pm

My first impression was of the visit Bush made to the French Quater after Katrina. Republicans have good production values. They flew in generators and had the French Quater lit up like Mardi Gras. Then they packed up their cameras and generators after the speach and flew off back to where ever and left New Orleans in the dark again.

Some had hoped at least they would leave the generators behind.

This exo-biological womb of electromagnetic human interface divices my grip on the kingdom is tenuous.

thanks for a good poem
a very satisfying poetry experience for me.

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constantine
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Re: at the last exhibition

Post by constantine » May 21st, 2011, 6:37 am

a similar scenario. what inspired the poem were the various fin de siecle world trade expositions - sort of a colonialistic disneyland. we shipped out our version of modernity; the same kind we had imposed on ourselves.

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stilltrucking
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Re: at the last exhibition

Post by stilltrucking » May 21st, 2011, 6:55 am

yeah was fascinated by fin de siecle
I did not know that was what the poem was about
that turn of the century decadent world the end of
a century of progress

we got decadence alright at the turn of the

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constantine
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Re: at the last exhibition

Post by constantine » May 21st, 2011, 7:01 am

have you read carl schorske's fin de siecle? excellent work.

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Diana Moon Glampers
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Re: at the last exhibition

Post by Diana Moon Glampers » May 25th, 2011, 8:21 pm

I have not read it. I feel like Diana Moon Glampers in the novel God Bless You Mr Rosewater when I try to write about poetry with you. I used to be smart dinochio, now I am dam near too dumb to live. I will probably never get to read it but thanks for the information. Fascinating when you think about what was slouching towards Vienna at the turn of the century. Freud, Einstein, Hitler, Husserl.

http://books.google.com/books?id=rz85AA ... le&f=false

A couple of years ago was the first time I heard the phrase fin de siecle. A guy had a webpage about decadence. He loved decadence, I can not find the site again but he had the picture below posted. Something about decadence so beautiful he said, the colors. There is a cultural anthropology paper somewhere about the stages a culture goes through. The phase that would be analogous to autumnal fluorescence.

I found the webpage it is defunct now but still cached on the inter net
PAUL VERLAINE:


"I love this word decadence, all shimmering in purple and gold. It suggests the subtle thoughts of ultimate civilization, a high literary culture, a soul capable of intense pleasures. It throws off bursts of fire and the sparkle of precious stones. It is redolent of the rouge of courtesans, the games of the circus, the panting of the gladiators, the spring of wild beasts, the consuming in flames of races exhausted by their capacity for sensation, as the tramp of an invading army sounds."

-- quoted in William Gaunt, The Aesthetic Adventure.
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"a sixty-eight-year-old virgin who, by almost anybody's standards, was too dumb to live. Her name was Diana Moon Glampers."

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