(anthropology, Columbia)
flies off to Paris today
for the 3rd-time; saying
"It’s all work..." longing
"for a real vacation..."
asking me if I want
"something from Paris?"
"Just a stone, scuffed
by Parisian traffic, or
from a garden," I say,
"If you're in one."
(04 JUL 09, Santa Clara CA)v6
footnote:
On his 1st trip, he also visited Evreux, Eure (old Haute Normandie), where Guillaume Costeley (ca.1532-1606), court composer 3mos/yr. to Henri III & then Charles IX Valois, retired as a royal tax-collector.
"*Allons gai, gai" ("Let's go gaily, gay shepherds...") begins & refrains Costeley's frenchly-famous Christmas carol.
Deconstruction:
A Costeley descendant flies back to Paris 503 yrs later, for the 3rd time, not as a tourist, but a busy academic booked into a conference, wishing this were a vacation. Collectable Paris is reduced to a small stone. Costeley only served the French court 3 months per year, retiring to Normandy to collect taxes, never got a title based on property, so was not de Costeley; his house is now a discount clothing store on the banks of the small stream that runs thru Evreux, a regional city where a small music school's named after him. Only famous in France, he wrote 100 micro-tonal chansons & some keyboard pieces.
No comments:
Post a Comment