IN THE LAND OF
BRIGHT MEADOWS
It is said that bears hide away in
Winter, in dens beneath rocks
and all of that. I believe none
of it. The natural world's a lie.
Maude Allan danced Salome'
all over Europe. It was 1908.
-
I had a notion to slip her my
eight but nothing ever came
of that either, and the guys
in the hostel said I exaggerated
by far. I said back : 'A man's
hopes should exceed his grasp.
Now who said that?'
-
Maud Allan was a student of
Busoni. You getting all this stuff?
I can go on, but I'd rather not, for
the evidence is too flimsy, and it
was long ago. She toured all of
Europe, beginning in 1903,
dancing to Chopin and Schubert
(I once thought he invented
Sherbet, but not), Mendelssohn
too. Gustave Moreau did the best
of all this - publicizing by painting,
in 1876 - his 'Salome Dancing
Before Herod.'
-
It was a really big deal; lots of
people back then didn't really
get out much, and wild women
drove men crazy. God's true
order of things?
-
Decadence and careful drawing
gave way to impasto. The rest
is History. Or hers, anyway. In
the land of bright meadows,
nothing ever dies.
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