These words are La Jolie Rousse, the final poem in Apollinaire's final poetry collection Calligrammes. For the last part of WWI Apollinaire was stationed in Paris and there he met, fell in love with and married the redhead referenced in the poem's title. He was still weakened from his head wounds, and died suddenly from the influenza epidemic that swept the world in 1918. Two days after he died Germany surrendered, and as crowds swept through the streets of Paris singing "Down with Guillaume" (meaning Kaiser Wilhelm), Apollinaire's friends were burying their own Guillaume. He probably would have really enjoyed the scene.
Here's the last page in my book, text from an earlier poem:
This will be my last post on the show - it's last day is tomorrow. Thanks to Elyse for the opportunity and to Mark and David for having such great work in the gallery with me. I still have books for sale and will continue to hawk those here and elsewhere.
As for Apollinaire, I'm not done with him yet...
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HOW TO BE EVERYWHERE
Gallery Neptune, Bethesda, Maryland.
April 6 - 28. 2007, reception Friday April 13, 6 - 9 pm.
All the work, and a 100-page limited-edition book of drawings published at the same time, is based on the poetry of Guillaume Apollinaire.
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