Bizarre Cities TOM SPECIAL April 2015
Farewell Guido
Participants in the special edition of “Bizarre Cities” in memoriam Guido Vermeulen Mim Golub Scalin, USA David Stone, USA Josephine Reichert, UK Judy Skolnik, USA David Dellafiora, Australia
Katerina Nikoltsou, Greece Cheryl Penn, South Africa Tiziana Baracchi, Italy Rebecca Guyver, UK JJalltheway (Jennifer Jones), USA Alicia Starr, USA
Meral Ağar, Turkey Petrolpetal, South Africa Eric Basso, USA PC(TICTAC), Germany Miche-Art-Universalis, Belgium Carl Baker, Canada
Nancy Bell Scott, USA, Gina Ulgen, UK Paul & Mireille Verhulst – Engelbert, Belgium Bernd Reichert, Belgium
When the dreamer dies, what happens to the dream?
Editorial
When I moved to Belgium or maybe better said stranded on the surreal shores of this place on my way to the Pacific Ocean (which I never saw), Guido was the first to great me as Belgian, Mail Artist and friend, most probably the other way around. Belgium, this tiny but deeply split country where a surrealist and rebel artist is a bourgeois man of approved stature with a boulder. I still remember the first time I visited him in his apartment in the middle of Brussels red-light district close to the Gare du Nord railway station. Coming from a different planet, only a few years after the Berlin wall had come down, I still wasn’t used to see those girls in their windows looking at me while I was trying to find Guido’s entry door. It has always been great fun meeting him, he knew everybody and it seems everybody knew him. He was very generous in sharing his contacts with others, it was only through him that I really got into Mail Art and its eternal network. People from all over the world would come and stay in his place. We were sitting in his tiny walled backyard garden in the middle of the city. But this was already when he had moved to another place, a cellar flat in the basement of a Brussels townhouse, because the old environment was changing to drastically and became too fundamental. And this for him who was tolerant in a fundamental way. But what made him really angry were all kinds of intolerance, religious narrow-mindedness – on all sides - and violence, in particular to children. The seemly increasing paedophilia over the years was one recurrent theme in many of his expressions. The years went past, we got older, maybe slower, our interests parted. Guido was very much involved in internet based and collaborative forms of poetry, increasing his huge network even further. We met less often, life took its toll. It would have been high time for another meeting, talking about old and new friends, projects, our ever increasing illnesses, love and loneliness and many other things. Before that I got the news that Guido had gone for ever… Well this is how the story goes. I might not remember the exact times and right sequence anymore, but hey - who cares! It’s the memory which counts and this is a memory. Thank you to everybody who contributed to this book. Farewell Guido.
- Eric Basso _____________________________________________________________ THE STONES OF APHINAR in memoriam Guido Vermeulen the Aphinarians call them bools a ball of opalescent water hangs in the air with nothing to contain it and not a drop is lost each bool cradles the dry stone asleep in its nucleus the poet asleep in its stone water lighter than air stone lighter than water visible in the stillness where ripples on the surface shrink and die away only then can the poet hope to read a stone's inscription the soundless nocturne whose score is impossible to play the trees give up their entrails end of the journey that death set in motion drifting through the high grass a poet has crossed the ramparts to become one with the floating stones of Aphinar October 7, 2014 --
Ne Me Quitte Pas
Ne me quitte pas Il faut oublier Tout peut s'oublier Qui s'enfuit déjà Oublier le temps Des malentendus Et le temps perdu A savoir comment Oublier ces heures Qui tuaient parfois A coups de pourquoi Le coeur du bonheur Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Moi je t'offrirai Des perles de pluie Venues de pays Où il ne pleut pas Je creuserai la terre Jusqu'après ma mort Pour couvrir ton corps D'or et de lumière Je ferai un domaine Où l'amour sera roi Où l'amour sera loi Où tu seras reine Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas
Je t'inventerai Des mots insensé Que tu comprendras Je te parlerai De ces amants-là Qui ont vu deux fois Leur coeur s'embrasser Je te raconterai L'histoire de ce roi Mort de n'avoir pas Pu te rencontrer
Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte Pas Ne me quitte pas On a vu souvent Rejaillir le feu D'un ancien volcan Qu'on croyait trop vieux Il est paraît-il Des terres brûlées Donnant plus de blé Qu'un meilleur avril Et quand vient le soir Pour qu'un ciel flamboie Le rouge et le noir Ne s'épousent-ils pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte Pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas
Je ne vais plus pleurer Je ne vais plus parler Je me cacherai lĂ A te regarder Danser et sourire Et t'ĂŠcouter Chanter et puis rire Laisse-moi devenir L'ombre de ton ombre L'ombre de ta main L'ombre de ton chien Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas
Edition of 25 © with the artists for the individual artwork © Bernd Reichert for the assembling design and layout This copy has the number
………21………
The „Bizarre Cities“ is a irregularly appearing collaborative art magazine including texts, (visual) poetry and original artworks in a limited edition of 25 copies. This is a special edition in the memory of Guido Vermeulen (19542014) So far the following editions have been published.: Bizarre Cities Tom. I - Bizarre Cities - Summer 2000 Bizarre Cities Tom. II - Inner-Space Astronauts - Summer 2002 Bizarre Cities Tom. III - Urban Myths - Spring 2004 Bizarre Cities Tom. IV - Provincial Metropolis(m) - Spring 2005 Bizarre Cities Tom. V - Psychogeography - Spring 2006 Bizarre Cities Tom. VI - Fragile Correspondences - Spring 2008 Bizarre Cities Tom. VII - Surveillance - Summer 2009 Bizarre Cities Tom. VIII - Urban Travel Book - Spring 2012
Bizarre Cities Tom. IX - Urban Lights - Winter 2013 Bizarre Cities Tom. X - under preparation—2015