my writing

Category: Poetry

  • A walk across Paris, along the Meridian 2

    I am standing on the Paris Meridian. (A meridian is an imaginary line connecting the north and south poles of a sphere.) The Paris Meridian was decided upon 6.6km (20,317 pieds de roi, in those days) south of here, on Midsummer Day, 1667, when members of the Academy of Sciences gathered to outline on the…

  • A Walk across Paris, along the Meridian: 1

    St-Ouen. Outside le Périph. A large silver ball has landed on a small traffic island. The sun blazes at its centre. Mirrors reflect; a curved mirror bends. And eventually deflects. Passing cars appear, swell, are gone, into St-Ouen. “St-Ouen Bienvenue.” Under Napoleon III, I see a marshal of France on horseback, sabre raised. Between the…

  • When Vincent met Arthur : Van Gogh and Rimbaud meet in London.

    Monday 30th March 1874, and a young man dressed smartly for the City, in a new top hat, is striding past Waterloo Station in London. He proudly shoots his cuffs to display the cuff-links sent by his beloved younger brother. In the evening he will write to thank him, while reminding him that, with his…