On a Little Prince tending, Radiohead’s “Faust Arp”
& Jean Arp’s lyrical plains & chairs…
today: page 26 from The Little Prince showing him raking a volcano that might be active & line 26 from Radiohead's "Faust Arp"
in dialogue with Jean Arp poetry and a portrait of "two heads."
From The Little Prince:
“In order to make his escape, I believe he took advantage of a migration of wild birds. On the morning of his departure, he put his planet in order. He carefully raked out his active volcanoes, which were very convenient for warming his breakfast. He also possessed one extinct volcano. But, as he said, “You never know!” So he raked out the extinct volcano, too. If they are properly raked out, volcanoes burn gently and regularly, without eruptions” (p. 25, accompanying the drawing on p. 26)
[in triplicate just to be safe?]
I’m perplexed by friendships that struggle to take root. You try once, and twice, and three times, since “You never know!”
As for tending to the ground, whether I really succeeded I do not know. (The good news, though: Even the stones, after all, are filled with tenderness. And two heads are better than one.)
- Illustration of the Little Prince tending to his possibly inactive volcano, page 26 of The Little Prince, written and illustrated by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Harcourt, Inc. ([1943]/2000)).
- Lyrics to “Faust Arp,” Radiohead, In Rainbows, 2007 (line 26 highlighted)
- Poetry by Jean Arp; poems from https://allpoetry.com/Jean-Hans-Arp
- Artwork by Jean Arp. (1) To be lost in the forest (1932, sculpture); (2) Two Heads (1927), MOMA; (3) Untitled, ca. 1936, National Galleries Scotland.