Monday, December 05, 2016

Gilbert Adair: PMB for Patrica



PMB                                        for Patricia



I must learn how to express

the gentleness of things’ roughened

textures way I sketcht my nudes here   

in Paris. the only way to get some-

where & become something. let’s

paint all week & on Saturday I will

come to you. an impatience even w/

apostrophes. (telegrams). blaming

“all men” y’know one himself not

having been raised as one. wie

schade. I will be sent on a train into

this century.


Gilbert Adair 

"PMB" is taken from Syzem Book Two, an aesthetic/cultural translation of William Blake's Milton Book Two presently in progress (Book One having been published by Veer in 2014). The extract was written perhaps a year ago, w/ Patricia - who first introduced me to the work of Paula Modersohn-Becker and her importance for Rilke, as well as her relevance to any contemporary take on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth (a version of which, perhaps unconsciously, seems to be playing out in Blake's poem) - very much in mind. That is, w/ Patricia very much in mind. For this, much gratitude - and Happy 60th! (GA)

 Visit the Patricia Farrell Celebrations Hub Post (with links to all the rest) here.