Monday 15 April 2013

323

Rimbaud : VÉNUS ANADYOMÈNE

A woman's head, the heavy pomade in its
Brown hair failing to hide its alopecia,
Rises slowly and senselessly from the
Green coffin of an old zinc bathtub ;

Then the grey, bloated neck, the great salient
Shoulder-blades ; the back, which undulates
Down to a long curvature about the kidneys ;
The fat under the skin seeming to form flat sheets ;

The spine is a little red, and it all gives off
A disturbing odour ; often, one notices
Singularities one might examine under a glass

Two words carved in the lower back : CLARA VENUS ;
The whole body shifts and tends its large rump,
Where it is beautified hideously by an anal fissure.

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