Joseph Stalin, 1902: photographer unknown, from Joseph Wissarionowitsch Stalin -- Kurze Lebenschreibung, Moscow 1947; image by ComtesseDeMingrelie, 23 February 2011
Self-portrait of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, created by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii as part of his work to document the Russian Empire from 1904 to 1916: photo by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, 1912 (Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii Collection, Library of Congress)The pinkish bud has opened,
Rushing to the pale-blue violet
And, stirred by a light breeze,
The lily of the valley has bent over the grass.The lark has sung in the dark blue,
Flying higher than the clouds
And the sweet-sounding nightingale
Has sung a song to children from the bushes.Flower, oh my Georgia!
Let peace reign in my native land!
And may you, friends, make renowned
Our Motherland by study!
The Soviet Russian 11th Red Army holds a military parade in Tbilisi, 25 February 1921: photographer unknown; image by Kober, 6 December 2005 (Photomuseum of Georgia)
Joseph Stalin (1878-1953): Morning, published under the pseudonym Soselo in the Georgian journal Iveria, 1895
Chico the budgie will never forget this poem.
ReplyDeleteVassilis Zambaras, student of international verse, prompted this recitation.
Tom check out these photos of Stalin's industrial scapes http://gizmodo.com/5873441/this-girl-sneaked-into-this-russian-military-rocket-factory
ReplyDeleteVincent,
ReplyDeleteInsane.
This shot reminded me of a scene from Tarkovsky's Solaris.
Oh well, I meant the Core of the Death Star shot at the top.
ReplyDeleteClick on it!
Wow . . . The final two lines . . . Rock. I think I'll post them on Jane's wall so she can study them while she does her homework. Curtis
ReplyDeleteCurtis,
ReplyDeleteKnow what you mean. Awesome. Had 'em up and dancing here, too.
"It IS a good homework assignment!"
beautiful verse, love the pics!!
ReplyDeleteThe rocket factory photos are indeed insane. Speaking of which, for obvious reasons I'm always drawn to look closely at the eyes, gaze and countenance of these killers. After reading Stalin's poem and looking at Hitler's paintings, I felt compelled to take my favorite Christmas present, The Cultural Revolution Cookbook (it's great) down from the shelf and remind myself of Mao's truly poetic and focused observation on the bean curd he enjoyed at the Huogongdian restaurant in the city of Changsha in 1958: "The strong-smelling bean curd at Huogongdian smells foul, but tastes delicious." One assumes that thus fortified, Mao was able to sally forth and get back to his serious population reduction work. Curtis
ReplyDelete"Vassilis Zambaras, student of international verse, prompted this recitation."
ReplyDeleteWell, in that case, Tom, may I continue with this little ditty?
I’VE GOT SIX SECONDS TO SING STALIN AND I’M NOT GOING TO BUDGE AN INCH TILL I GET MY FILL
Try craft’s pottage sleaze, jeez you’ll love it, poets
love it, love it, try craft’s pottage sleaze!
Would that more despotic murderers have been as handsome as the young Stalin. Incidentally, Simon Montefiore's book on Stalin is surprisingly stunning.
ReplyDeleteSome of the comments put me in mind for this-
ReplyDeleteI tell you the more i think, the more i feel that there is nothing more truely artistic than to love people.
A specter is haunting Europe - the specter of communism.
Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks.
I am not a Marxist.
..only that the first one is by Van Gogh and the rest by Karl Marx.
Despottage is only ever a missed kiss away,
ReplyDeleteAs the Bible does not but probably ought to say.
I do like that Stalin bio, Brad.
It's one of a triad -- a little axis of evil bio-unit, one might say -- we've been thinking about here.
The second, obviously (see previous post), was a life of the Failed Artist; and the third a life of a character even weirder and darker (but is that possible?), if not tougher than the rest... no not Van Gogh but Richard Nixon.
Even beyond the days of bloody hatefilled glory there remained surviving pockets of Hitlerites and Stalinists -- obscure, yet, for those who knew about such things, still identifiable by their markings, slithering out to hatch their larvae round the club (did I mean to say globe?); but the Nixonists and Nixonites...
Always beware the invisible threat.
I have a friend whose life has been ineradicably altered by mites. One can't even see them. But they make themselves known by their effects,it seems... and could it be... lurking somewhere under the rug at one of those caucus-thingies, a whole colony, massing ... oh no!
I tell you the more I think, the more I feel that the only sort of -ist I would ever care to be is an Aditya-ist.
Please note that we can help out in the mite department. Caroline diagnosed and saved the parakeets from a serious mite attack. No one should have their life ineradicably altered by "mite-mites" (who you have described accurately and well). As far as human mites go, that's another story. Curtis
ReplyDeleteHe was quite handsome. I love the Grosky photo at the bottom.
ReplyDelete"gamil"
My head was positively swimming until I came to this:
ReplyDeleteAditya-ist!
Now all is clear ...
Don