The Lovers’ Chronicle 12 March – fear – art by François Gérard, Carl Holsøe & Rita Angus – birth of Gabriele D’Annunzio

Dear Zazie, Here is today’s Lovers’ Chronicle from Mac Tag dedicated to his muse. Follow us on twitter @cowboycoleridge. How well do you know fear? Rhett

The Lovers’ Chronicle

Dear Muse,

dont fear the nightmare…
-In the background, an ominous dirge plays, eliciting a sense of foreboding, he is roused to a dream state-
dang, why is it so cold, and who is playin’ that creepy music, oh is this the beginnin’ of a nightmare, because i watched a scary movie tonight, ha, bring it, i ain’t scared of nothin’ and i can take any and all kinda horror movies,
looks like i am floatin’ down a river, but which one, oh sweet, the sign says
cape fear, if max cady comes up outta the water, this will git scary quick,
but can we git a change in music please, yes that is perfect, Lou reed;
“Waves of fear attack in the night
Waves of revulsion, sickening sights
My hearts nearly bursting, my chest’s choking tight
Waves of fear, waves of fear”
wait what, is that a movie screen comin’ up, that would be excellent
if Nosferatu, or hereditary or midsommar is playin’ 
Baby what are you doing, asks the far from scary redhead
hey beautiful, do not come in here, you will not like it
I came to pull you out of your nightmare with a song
that goes with your theme, but we’re going to need more cowbell;
“Come on baby (don’t fear the reaper)
Baby take my hand (don’t fear the reaper)
We’ll be able to fly (don’t fear the reaper)
Baby I’m your man”
ha, that is feckin’ fabulous my dear, wow you are the best,
well played my love
Fear not, baby I’m your woman

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none of that around here
“Not anymore”
this one goes back to 2017
and a line from Skyfall
“The days of sadness”
there was plenty back then;
of not gittin’ out alive, or sane
of not bein’ heard or found
“Glad they were laid to rest”
is that a definin’ tenet
of this we share
“That fear is no more”

© copyright 2023 mac tag/cowboycoleridge all rights reserved

another topic borne in the past, in the, what shall we call it without dredgin’ up too much drama; the dark days, the before, the what the hell was i thinkin’ time, any or all of those work, there is the old salve, did the best i could, not discountin’ survivin’ which is really all the unenlightened can hope for, and here i am, not bein’ afraid to step in to this with you

© copyright 2022.2024 mac tag/cowboycoleridge all rights reserved

another day
another week

crammin’ more into each day
than ever thought possible

i miss you and think
of bein’ with you

i trust that you
are patient,
for this journey
i must complete

i know not else what to do
other than offer this verse
and this vision of us, with

© copyright 2021 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

Pale Love, Pale Rider

i sit and write, seems
even more important now
i do not tire, my head
with dreams is full

i sit and write, verse
that aches with desire,
appealin’, yearnin’ only to be
there with you

the purpose found
need defined
it is no roseate view
that beckons,
inspirin’ me

© copyright 2020 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

wonderin’ today,
how many days
have there been
where the only thing
worth lookin’ forward to
in that day, was you

whether it be
seein’ you
or callin’ you
or writin’ you a note,
how many

after careful thought
i came up with
an approximate guess,
a helluva lot

© copyright 2019 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

remember
when you said
you were afraid
i would git bored with you

i know
i have only ever
been worth a damn
at anything
as inspiration struck

but look,
look at all
you have inspired
and for how long

this could be
my masterpiece

and for what it matters
i only want to be
worth a damn
at one thing
you

© copyright 2018 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

*think on your sins*

of course it had to be here
of course it had to be this way

the aftermath of the fall
soakin’ in whiskey
and the charms
of a dark haired,
cinnamon skinned,
for the now lover

she wanted to set me free
only if that were enough

*think on your sins*

“How very traditional.”
i like doin’ things
the old fashioned way
“What about new tricks?”
depends on the subject,
and the teacher

“Shall we discuss
your next performance
over a drink?”

be careful what you wish for

you are scared
“You know nothing about it.”

i know when a woman is afraid
and pretendin’ not to be
“How much do you know
about fear?”
all there is
“Not like this.”

there is naught
but dark sadness
at the bottom

come we go
time is a wastin’

© copyright 2017 mac tag/cowboy Coleridge all rights reserved

Wakin' up 
Sun reddenin' 
Far from home 
Haunted and tired 
In an old hotel room 
Hearin' all the sad sounds

© copyright 2016 mac tag/cowboy Coleridge all rights reserved

I feel like the late, great
Warren Zevon song, 
"I'll Sleep When I'm Dead"

© copyright 2015 mac tag/cowboy Coleridge all rights reserved

Today is the birthday of François Gérard (François Pascal Simon Gérard; Rome 4 May 1770 – 11 January 1837 Paris); painter. His father occupied a post in the house of the French ambassador in Rome, and his mother was Italian. After he was made a baron of the Empire in 1809 by Emperor Napoleon, he was known formally as Baron Gérard. Perhaps best remembered for his portraits.

Gallery

Today is the birthday of Il Vate, Il Profeta, General Gabriele D’Annunzio, Prince of Montenevoso, Duke of Gallese (Pescara, Italy; 12 March 1863 – 1 March 1938 Gardone Riviera, Italy), sometimes spelled D’Annunzio; writer, poet, journalist, playwright and soldier during World War I.  He occupied a prominent place in Italian literature from 1889 to 1910 and later political life from 1914 to 1924. He was often referred to under the epithets Il Vate (“the Poet”) or Il Profeta (“the Prophet”).

D’Annunzio was associated with the Decadent movement in his literary works, which interplayed closely with French Symbolism and British Aestheticism.  Such works represented a turn against the naturalism of the preceding romantics and was both sensuous and mystical.  He came under the influence of Friedrich Nietzsche which would find outlets in his literary and later political contributions. His affairs with several women, including Eleonora Duse and Luisa Casati, received public attention.

During the First World War, perception of D’Annunzio in Italy transformed from literary figure into a national war hero. He was associated with the elite Arditi storm troops of the Italian Army and took part in actions such as the Flight over Vienna. As part of an Italian nationalist reaction against the Paris Peace Conference, he set up the short-lived Italian Regency of Carnaro in Fiume with himself as Duce. The constitution made “music” the fundamental principle of the state and was corporatist in nature. Some of the ideas and aesthetics influenced Italian fascism and the style of Benito Mussolini.

In 1883, D’Annunzio married Maria Hardouin di Gallese, and had three sons, Mario (1884-1964), Gabriele Maria “Gabriellino” (1886-1945) and Ugo Veniero (1887-1945), but the marriage ended in 1891. In 1894, he began a love affair with the actress Eleonora Duse which became a cause célèbre.  He provided leading roles for her in his plays of the time such as La città morta (1898) and Francesca da Rimini (1901), but the tempestuous relationship finally ended in 1910. After meeting the Marchesa Luisa Casati in 1903, he began a lifelong turbulent on again-off again affair with Luisa, that lasted until a few years before his death.

D’Annunzio died of a stroke. He was given a state funeral by Mussolini and was interred in a magnificent tomb constructed of white marble at Il Vittoriale degli Italiani.

Verse

Un’oscura tristezza è in fondo a tutte le felicità umane, come alla foce di tutti i fiumi è l’acqua amara.

Vieni;
usciamo
tempo è di rifiorire

Camminare con te per mondi e spiagge. Vorrei che questa fosse la mia sorte.

Today is the birthday of Carl Holsøe (Carl Vilhelm Holsøe; Aarhus, Denmark, 12 March 1863 – Asserbo, Denmark, 7 November 1935); artist who primarily painted interiors.

In 1894 he married Emilie Heise, who was his most frequent model; she died in 1930. On 21 October 1935, shortly before his death, he married Ingeborg Margrethe Knudsen.

Gallery

Interior with woman reading by the window

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Five Portraits (1901–02): left to right, Thorvald Bindesbøll, Svend Hammershøi (foreground, with pipe), Karl Madsen, Jens Ferdinand Willumsen, Holsøe

Reading girl by the window – 1909

And today is the birthday of Rita Angus (Henrietta Catherine Angus; Hastings, New Zealand, 12 March 1908 – 25 January 1970 Wellington, New Zealand); known as Rita Cook early in her career, was a painter who, alongside Colin McCahon and Toss Woollaston, is regarded as one of the leading figures in twentieth-century New Zealand art. She worked primarily in oil and watercolour, and became known for her portraits and landscapes.

Angus married Alfred Cook, a fellow artist, on 13 June 1930, but they separated in 1934, and divorced in 1939. Angus signed many of her paintings as Rita Cook between 1930 and 1946, but after she discovered in 1941 that Alfred Cook had remarried, she changed her surname by deed poll to McKenzie, her paternal grandmother’s surname. As a result, some of her paintings are also signed R. Mackenzie or R. McKenzie, but the majority are signed Rita Angus.

After a short period teaching art in Napier, Angus lived mostly in Christchurch during the 1930s and 1940s. In a difficult financial position after her divorce she took on different jobs including teaching and as an illustrator for the Press. In the late 1940s she suffered from mental illness and entered Sunnyside Mental Hospital in 1949. In 1950 she moved to Waikanae to convalesce, and then settled in Wellington in 1955.

In the early 1940s, Angus had an affair with composer Douglas Lilburn, whom she met in 1941; she became pregnant but miscarried. The affair as such was short, but the connection remained, with Lilburn in attendance when she died. The affair between the two only became known after letters were discovered in 2002.

From December 1969, Angus’ condition rapidly deteriorated; she died in Wellington Hospital of ovarian cancer, aged 61.

Gallery

thanks for stoppin’ by y’all

mac tag