FIREHEART


Rimbaud said that the poet is truly a stealer of fire.

Rimbaud was Jim's favorite poet, for his poetic theories as well as for his poems. In 1871, Rimbaud, a sixteen year old boy-poet wrote in a letter to a fellow French poet:
"The Poet makes himself a seer by a long, vast and reasoned derangement of all the senses--every form of love, of suffering, of madness."

Rimbaud
Here is a story about Jim, two of his fans, and Arthur Rimbaud:

Two young fans wanted autographs from Jim, one of them happened to have an uncle who was a policeman, who managed to get them backstage. Luckily, they had remembered to bring their instamatic camera, and asked Jim if he would allow a photo with each of them.
"What are your names?" he asked the girls.
"I'm Nancy, she's Sheila." came the reply.
Jim quickly signed his autograph and then said:
"Hey, wait a minute. This guy's professional photographer, let's have him take a picture of the three of us." Jim handed him the autographed papers, the girls handed him the camera. The photographer snapped the picture. As he handed the paper and camera to the girls, the photographer noticed that Jim had written "To Nancy, Love Arthur Rimbaud." and "To Sheila, Love Arthur Rimbaud."

Here, in my opinion, is Jim's best poem. It's called The Severed Garden.

Here is Jim's favorite poem written by Rimbaud. It's called Evening Prayer.