Baudelaire, dead broke, nonetheless allowed himself
two hours for his morning ablutions
(Warm water can be a narcotic too).
His razor scraping whiskers cleanly off
sounded like a file rass-rasping
against prison bars. Never did this man
gulp a cup of coffee, bolt out the door
with a blob of shaving cream on his ear,
and go to a job. He composed himself.
Dead broke, he explored (in prose) six waterdrops
that quake in a corner of Delacroix’s painting
Dante and Virgil!
Through a window
wafted the spiel of a fishmonger
as well as the stench. Many, many vendors
singsonging their wares. A wish-wash drizzle
inducing human animals to mope, to yawn.
We all get bored: Between mainstream culture (buy things)
and nature (in this case, rain), people tend to snooze.
Poetry jolts awake the lucky few. I praise
the mirror gazing mighty poet Baudelaire,
my hero, a fop full of compulsions,
a perfectionist to whom a single
tweezered nosehair brought tears of joy.
-Roger Fanning
