Poem for the day (April 9)

Subject: Poem for the day (April 9)
From: Peter T.
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 09:21 AM

I never used to think of myself as worth much
Until you came along.
Just as the naked rock is made more valuable
By carving and chiselling,
Just as paper becomes worthwhile by
All the scratches etched all over it,
So, since I have been scarred by loving you
I do not complain, I go as one
Bearing a magic charm, your seal upon me --
made safe in every place --
Invulnerable against water, against fire --
Oh yes, I can make the blind see under your charm,
and with my spit
I heal everyone who is poisoned.

-- Michelangelo Buonarrotti. (trans. Peter T.)

Subject: RE: Poem for the day (April 9)
From: Jande
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 09:30 AM

Thankyou, Peter. That is very thought-provoking. Is this a contemporary poet?

~ Jande

Subject: RE: Poem for the day (April 9)
From: Noreen
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 09:31 AM

That is beautiful, Peter. Thank you.

Noreen

Subject: RE: Poem for the day (April 9)
From: GUEST,#1
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 10:13 AM

And another irrelevant trivia, by Michelangelo's contemporary Pietro Aretino, for the first of Giulio Romano's postures, a mundane variation on the missionary method.

Let's fottere, my love, let's fottere,
Since all of us were born only to fottere.
You adore the cazzo and I the potta.
The world would be nothing without this act.

It it were proper to fottere after death,
I'd say let's fottere ourselves to death,
Then we could fottere Adam and Eve
Who died such a dishonourable death.

Truly, if those truants hadn't eaten
That treacherous apple in the garden,
Lovers would long ago have quenched their lust.

But let's stop chatting. Stick your cazzo in
So that it reaches my heart, and crush the soul
That lives or dies issueing from the cazzo

Don't leave out my balls-
Take them inside the potta,
Those witnesses of every extreme pleasure.

[Translated (except for the important words) by Lynne Lawner.]

Subject: RE: Poem for the day (April 9)
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 10:15 AM

Jande, Michelangelo Buonarrotti is THE Michelangelo, the sculptor/artist/demigod we all know and love.

Sculptor Benvenuto Cellini claimed "That Buonarrotti always hovered over my work and told me what to do. One day I became ill of him and struck him in the nose with my fist. That is why to this day Buonarrotti has a crooked nose."

Subject: RE: Poem for the day (April 9)
From: Jande
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 10:28 AM

Thanks, Matt! You are a wealth of information for one as ignorant as I... LOL!

~ Jande ;`)

Subject: RE: Poem for the day (April 9)
From: Peter T.
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 11:52 AM

Thanks, Guest! Is there a Web site with the Romano series (serious question)? I seem to recall vaguely that all we have left are etchings and pale copies.

Yes, Jande, the same Michelangelo -- he wrote many fine poems, especially later in life.

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Poem for the day (April 9)
From: GUEST,#1
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 12:11 PM

No. And description is a bit fuzzy. The title is 'I Modi', Northwestern University Press, 1988 (large size paperback). So many supposed copies by others (mostly supplied) that it's hard to keep track of what's what. Original drawings supposedly by Romano, etched by Marcantaonio Raimondi, but it doesn't appear that any of the original ethings are known, and the illustrations from 'I Modi' look like woodcuts, and not terribly good ones. Aretino's 'sonnets' are given in facsimile (in Italian of course).

Subject: RE: Poem for the day (April 9)
From: Jande
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 12:15 PM

Oh, and Matt... I don't think an admittance of ignorance on a subject is a suggestion of stupidity, just acknowledging a lack of knowledge. Sorry if I confused you there.

~ Jande

Subject: RE: Poem for the day (April 9)
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 12:17 PM

It's ok! Lol!

Subject: RE: Poem for the day (April 9)
From: GUEST,#1
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 01:00 PM

Finally, the very last thing at the bottom of the end cover of 'I Modi':

ISBN 0-8101-0804-6

Subject: RE: Poem for the day (April 9)
From: Peter T.
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 02:06 PM

Thanks!

yours, Peter T.