53---> thomas & baudelaire

À une passante

La rue assourdissante autour de moi hurlait.
Longue, mince, en grand deuil, douleur majestueuse,
Une femme passa, d'une main fastueuse
Soulevant, balançant le feston et l'ourlet;

Agile et noble, avec sa jambe de statue.
Moi, je buvais, crispé comme un extravagant,
Dans son oeil, ciel livide où germe l'ouragan,
La douceur qui fascine et le plaisir qui tue.

Un éclair... puis la nuit! — Fugitive beauté 
Dont le regard m'a fait soudainement renaître,
Ne te verrai-je plus que dans l'éternité?

Ailleurs, bien loin d'ici! trop tard! jamais peut-être!
Car j'ignore où tu fuis, tu ne sais où je vais,
Ô toi que j'eusse aimée, ô toi qui le savais!

— Charles Baudelaire

Thomas Baas sur son dessin après le poème "À une passante" de Charles Baudelaire:

C’est un instant, un moment aussi fugace qu’intense. Chaque vers résonne comme le pas de la passante. À peine le poème est lu, la femme à déjà disparue. Capter l’instantané, figer la puissance des impressions—cette entreprise admirablement mise en œuvre par Baudelaie est celle, souvent, de nombreux artistes; que ce soit en dessin, photo, musique. Saisir l’impalpable et l’éphémère est de l’offrir à une contemplation éternelle. (1)

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Thomas Baas intègre la section illustration de l’École supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg en 1994. Diplômé en 2000, il travaille pour l’édition et la presse jeunesse. Il a publié chez de nombreux éditeurs, comme Actes Sud Junior ou Flammarion, et travaille aussi régulièrement comme affichiste (Rock en Seine, RATP, etc.). (2)

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Traduit du français par Carrie Chappell/ Translated from French to English by Carrie Chappell

(1) This is an instant, a moment as fleeting as it is intense. Each verse resonates like the step of the passerby. No sooner is the poem read than the woman has already vanished. To capture the instantaneous, to transfix the power of impressions—this undertaking admirably put into practice by Baudelaire is often the venture of many artists ; be it in drawing, photography, music. To grasp the impalpable and the ephemeral is to offer it to eternal contemplation.

(2) Thomas Baas was accepted into the illustration program of the Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg in 1994. He graduated in 2000 and works for children and young adult publishing houses. He has illustrated with numerous publishers, such as Actes Sud Junior or Flammarion, and also works regularly as a poster artist (Rock en Seine, RATP, etc.).

52---> jonathan & hayden

Name: Jonathan Finlayson

From: Oakland, California

Current City: New York, New York

Occupation: Musician/Composer

Age: 35

What does poetry mean to you?

Poetry is that which is sublime and nameless without attribution, the movement that is exceptional within the ordinary, the well of emotional intelligence that exceeds our capacity in all directions.

Poet and poem I’ll use for this entry:

“Perseus” by Robert Hayden

Her sleeping head with its great gelid mass
of serpents torpidly astir
burned into the mirroring shield—
a scathing image dire
as hated truth the mind accepts at last
and festers on. 
I struck. The shield flashed bare.

Yet even as I lifted up the head
and started from that place
of gazing silences and terrored stone, 
I thirsted to destroy. 
None could have passed me then— 
no garland-bearing girl, no priest
or staring boy—and lived.

Why do you like this poem?

The simplicity and universality of the themes of Hayden’s poem are what resonate with me. We’ve all encountered something at one point in time so terrifying that it left us paralyzed with fear. Conversely, we’ve all also slew those fears and thus fed on the rush of endorphins that accompanies this type of achievement.

47---> jennifer & beatty

Name: Jennifer Jackson Berry

Hometown & Current City: Pittsburgh, PA

Age: 39

Occupation: Claims Adjuster, Poet, and Editor

What does poetry mean to you?

Poetry has saved me. When life took turns that I didn't expect and when those turns left me unable to verbalize my emotions, I turned to the page. When someone tells me that one of my poems has helped them, I am so profoundly honored and so deeply happy. When I find a poem that helps me, I am indebted to that poet.

A Favorite Poem:

"I'll Write the GIrl" by Jan Beatty

Why do you like this poem?

Jan Beatty is an amazing mentor, a generous spirit, and a powerhouse poet. This poem speaks to me because I lost my way in the poetry world for a long time. I didn't write anything for nearly ten years after completing my MFA back in 2002. I didn't know how to be a poet if I wasn't going to be in the academy as a professor/teacher. I didn't think that what I was writing about was important, was high-art enough. I started writing again and found the Madwomen in the Attic Writing Workshops, which are workshops for students and community writers that are small, supportive, and intergenerational. I found friendships, support, and validation. I learned that I'll always write the girl, too, and that my voice is important when I'm writing about her.

43---> kali & gilbert

Name: Kali McNutt

Hometown: Birmingham, AL

Current City: Birmingham, AL

Occupation: Entrepreneur/Importer/Foreign Policy Semi-Wonk

Age: almost 32

What does poetry mean to you?

Poetry is a way to say more than what is literally on paper—it’s a method of evoking a feeling using few words.

Favorite poem or poet:

For the past two years I have returned to "Failing and Flying" by Jack Gilbert.

Why do you like this poem?

Gilbert’s poem provides an alternate way to look at failure in romantic relationships, a way that I think is more real than most anything I've ever heard or been taught. Also, it has the ability to make me weep every time I read it. A friend shared it with me, and I have shared it with others—all have been moved by it in some way.