FLOWERS OF BAD by DAVID CAMERON

RYAN DALEY Reviews ... AND THEN Engages

Flowers of Bad: A False Translation of Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal by David Cameron
(Unbelievable Alligator/Ugly Duckling Presse, 2007)

[First, the review. Second, the engagement.]

David Cameron has flown low before, I’m sure of it. At dusk when you confuse the bleachers with the field those bats are his. His hang glider is operable. Somewhere big, potato and fake Viking hat-wearing songbirds are roused to concerto by these Flowers of Bad: Mistranslations, or perhaps Babel, of Baudelaire.

You’re the one singing on construction duty. A few girders up the sparks are flying. Men partaking in men’s diets. Women taking on the scaffold. This is Whistler, 2008. And what you hear isn’t the foreman, nor their orders, but Cameron’s garbled song stretched so that its metal now reflects.

Take the first quatrain of “Man & The Sea (XIV),”

In books you’re always looking at the sea!
The sea is your mirror, you look like an ass
In the infinite derailments on your street
And your spirit is less patriotic than a golf ball

When, in the Argentine dialect, a person is an idiot or imbecile, they are referred to as a pelotudo. It’s no coincidence then that pelota, ball, is the root. Ball head. For Maradona, the ball was something to kick. And the head of stupid person should be used for golfing.

In books, both as a character and the more obvious function of literature as mirror, this “you” looks out, taking in the sea during a visit to the beach on a ratty towel. Maybe this “you” smokes, maybe not. Maybe this “you” is thinking that looking like an ass is what most pelotudos dream of: donkeys. The infinite doorways, or derailments, derailleur (options in gearing) or other streets leading off into nothing, or chain guards, as the scoundrel is indeed found selling patriotism. Hidden pelotudos.

**********

[An Engagement]

David Cameron flew low front. In the twilight when you confuse the field this beater operational with him.

His sailplane of the breath is functional.

Some divide large, potato and the songbirds of Viking are caused with concert by these Flowers of Bad: Mistranslations, or perhaps Babel, of Baudelaire.

While singing in the duty of construction.

Some beams at the top of the sparks steal the men who make examination of the part in the methods of the men.

Women who make examination scaffolding.

It is Whistler, 2008. And what you hear is not him supervising, nor their orders, but deformed song of tended Cameron so that its metal is reflected now.

It makes examination of first quatrain of "man and sea (XIV),"

In books you’re always looking at the sea!
The sea is your mirror, you look like an ass
In the infinite derailments on your street
And your spirit is less patriotic than a golf ball

when, in dialect of Argentina, you wish to call somebody an idiot or imbecile, it is not any coincidence whereas in a Basque sphere, or in the puffiness, it is with the root of a head of the sphere.

For Maradona, the sphere is something to give a rejection. And the head of the person stupid must be used to play golf.

In the books, like the character and a more obvious function of literature likes the mirror, this one "that one you" looks at outside, attractive in the sea during a visit with the beach in a ratty outfit. Perhaps this "that one you" smoke, perhaps not. Perhaps this "which you" think that must resemble an ass of which majority of the dream of the pelotudos: asses.

Infinite doors, or of the derailments, the derailleur (options in the clutch) or other streets which are carried out distant of anything, as a rabble proves certainly to sell the patriotism. Hidden Pelotudos are found in the sphere.

*****

Ryan Daley blogs at Giver (http://charitablegiving.blogspot.com/) and teaches in New York City. Previous work appears in GlitterPony, Scantily Clad Press, BlazeVOX, JACKET. His chapbook, A BORDER LOOKS LIKE MAKING LOVE, is forthcoming from Airforce Joyride (The Greying Ghost Press).