Billy's Lines Of Gibberish

From the black A[lpha] of original darkness to the light of white E, and finally the violet O[mega], the last colour in the spectrum. Letters in this poem by Arthur Rimbaud are considered graphic or sound objects that have inherent meaning and ability to awaken a lot of other ones.

About two years ago, I went to an exhibition in Le Grand Palais in Paris. Italia Nova was dedicated to Italian paintings and sculptures in the first half of the twentieth century. I was amazed then to see that several Italian Futurists of the 1920's would use letters and numbers as objects in the same modern way Rimbaud had first used half a century earlier and pop-artists such as Andy Warhol would do later as well.

Voyelles

A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu : voyelles,
Je dirai quelque jour vos naissances latentes :
A, noir corset velu des mouches éclatantes
Qui bombinent autour des puanteurs cruelles,

Golfes d'ombre ; E, candeurs des vapeurs et des tentes,
Lances des glaciers fiers, rois blancs, frissons d'ombelles ;
I, pourpres, sang craché, rire des lèvres belles
Dans la colère ou les ivresses pénitentes ;

U, cycles, vibrements divins des mers virides,
Paix des pâtis semés d'animaux, paix des rides
Que l'alchimie imprime aux grands fronts studieux ;

O, suprême Clairon plein des strideurs étranges,
Silences traversés des Mondes et des Anges ;
- O l'Oméga, rayon violet de Ses Yeux !

Arthur Rimbaud

A black, E white, I red, U green, O blue: vowels,
I shall tell, one day, of your mysterious origins:
A, black velvety jacket of brilliant flies
which buzz around cruel smells,

E, whiteness of vapours and of tents,
lances of proud glaciers, white kings, shivers of cow-parsley;
I, purples, spat blood, smile of beautiful lips
in anger or in the raptures of penitence;

U, waves, divine shudderings of viridian seas,
the peace of pastures dotted with animals, the peace of the furrows
which alchemy prints on broad studious foreheads;

O, sublime Trumpet full of strange piercing sounds,
silences crossed by Worlds and by Angels:
O the Omega! the violet ray of His Eyes!

Arthur Rimbaud