a practiser of alchemy

“It will be seen that in the poem [Voyelles], Rimbaud suggests that the poet is a practiser of alchemy, and “A”, the colour of black, evokes the images of dissolution and putrefaction. In alchemy one of the symbols for the white colour is the letter “E”, and also the word “vapeur”; and the images which the poet links to the vowel “I” are amongst those . . . to designate the alchemical experiment which has reached the stage of the red colour. Green is the colour of Venus, and she was born of the sea. . . . Finally, last of all, comes the blue, the suspense before the gold appears, the sound of the trumpet announcing victory. In alchemy the final achievement of the gold is often taken as a symbol of attaining the vision of God.”

—Enid Starkie, Arthur Rimbaud, 1961.

endless beaches

“Sometimes I see in the sky endless beaches covered with white joyous nations. A huge golden vessel, above me, waves its multicolored flags in the morning wind. I have created all celebrations, all triumphs, all dramas. I have tried to invent new flowers, new stars, new flesh, new tongues.”

—Arthur Rimbaud; Pierre Petitfils, Rimbaud, translated by Alan Sheridan, 1987.

blue eyes, of a double blue

“He [Arthur Rimbaud] had brown hair, and blue eyes, of a double blue, the areas of which, deeper or lighter, expanded or merged together at moments of reverie, or intense thought: when he was thinking, when he was staring into the unknown, he carried his mental gaze very far, his eyelids moved closer, like a cat’s, the long silky lashes fluttered slightly, while his head remained still.”

—Ernest Delahay; Pierre Petitfils, Rimbaud, translated by Alan Sheridan, 1987.

Secrets of the Magic 8 Ball revealed

tulip mania

“Individual tulip bulbs fetched higher and higher prices in the seventeenth century, setting off the frenzy known as tulip mania. . . .

The speculation was fed by a random, and poorly understood, element to the flower’s coloration. . . . [S]ome tulips had a tendency to “break”—to emerge with wild, flaming white or yellow streaks across the petals. The broken flowers were highly sought after, but no one knew what caused the flamboyant patterns. . . .

At the time, no once could have guessed that the true cause was a virus. In fact, it was not until the early twentieth century that the tulip breaking virus, also called tulip mosaic virus, was finally identified. The virus is spread by aphids and works by inhibiting the amount of anthocyanin . . . that is stored in the vacuoles of each cell. When that pigment isn’t present, the ordinary white or yellow surface of the petal shows through, creating streaks of white or yellow against a jewel-colored background.”

—Amy Stewart, Flower Confidential, 2007.

the height of French fashion

“It was the height of French fashion around 1610 for a woman to wear a tulip the way she might wear a jewel.”

—Amy Stewart, Flower Confidential, 2007.

The Quest For A Blue Rose

“The quest for a blue rose is nothing new. The mere fact that it doesn’t exist, that it can’t exist in nature, seems to inspire all kinds of ludicrous attempts to force it into being. Roses are utterly lacking in delphinidin, the pigment that produces blue petal colors. No amount of crossbreeding can change that.”

—Amy Stewart, Flower Confidential, 2007.

Blue Light Boogie

“They did the boogie real slow
With the blue lights way down low”

—Jessie Mae Robinson, Blue Light Boogie, 1950.

rare clouds

His eyes

“His eyes were abnormally large, and round like those of a cat. The pupils, too, upon any accession or diminution of light, underwent contraction or dilation, just such as is observed in the feline tribe. In moments of excitement the orbs grew bright to a degree almost inconceivable; seeming to emit luminous rays, not of a reflected but of an intrinsic lustre, as does a candle or the sun; yet their ordinary condition was so totally vapid, filmy, and dull as to convey the idea of the eyes of a long-interred corpse.”

—Edgar Allen Poe, A Tale of the Ragged Mountains.