Ron Padgett reads Guillaume Apollinaire’s poem “Across Europe,” 1914.
Marc Chagall painted "Homage to Apollinaire" in 1913 for his friend and poet Guillaume Apollinaire. For Apollinaire, the friendship was reciprocal; he dedicated “Across Europe” to Chagall in the next year.
Transcript
Padgett: "Across Europe," by Guillaume Apollinaire.
To M. Ch.
Rotsoge
Your scarlet face your biplane that can change into a sea-
plane
Your round house where a smoked herring swims
I need the key to eyelids
Fortunately we saw Mr. Panado
And we’re reassured on that account
What do you see my old Mr. D . . .
90 or 324 a man in the air a calf that gazes through its
mother’s belly
I searched a long time on the road
So many eyes are closed along the road
The wind makes the willow groves weep
Open open open open open up
Look but really look
The old man is washing his feet in a basin
Una volta ho inteso dire Chè vuoi
I started to cry remembering your childhoods
And you you show me a frightful shade of violet
This little painting with a cart in it reminded me of one day
A day made of pieces mauve yellow blue green and red
In which I was going out to the country with a charming
chimney her dog on a leash
It’s all gone you don’t have your funny little music
anymore
The smokestack is smoking Russian cigarettes far away
from me
The dog is barking at the lilacs
The night lamp has gone out
Some petals have fallen on the dress
Two gold rings near the sandals
In the sun have caught fire
But your hair is the trolley line
Across a Europe dressed in little multicolored lights
