“I am a poet. It’s really not my fault…”
I’m now making myself as scummy as I can. Why? I want to be a poet, and I’m working at turning myself into a Seer. You won’t understand any of this, and I’m almost incapable of explaining it to you. The idea is to reach the unknown by the derangement of all the senses. It involves enormous suffering, but one must be strong and be a born poet. And I’ve realized that I am a poet. It’s really not my fault.
—Arthur Rimbaud, in a letter to Georges Izambard
Alec Nevala-Lee 
“Every form of love, of suffering, of madness; he searches himself, he consumes all the poisons in him, and keeps only their quintessences.”
He certainly lived the life of a libertine. I was reading Nietzsche the other day and thought a lot about what it means to be a free spirit, to own yourself. There are not too many people who have been able to move their own world. Most of us our moved by the world. Nietzsche was his own man and very much moved his own world. I have taken his advice to try in live life with little to no restraints. I wouldn’t go so far to call myself a libertine like Rimbaud but I have always tried to think for myself and not be part of ‘the herd.”
thewanderingsiren
August 31, 2011 at 4:09 pm
The tricky part is living life in the world while still remaining true to yourself. I respect Rimbaud’s example, but I’m not sure I want to follow it.
nevalalee
August 31, 2011 at 6:41 pm