The French adore
Patti Smith
From the Article:
' Smith, 58, was presented with the insignia of Commander of the Order of the Arts and Letters by Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres.
The ministry, in a statement, noted Smith's appreciation for 19th century French poet Arthur Rimbaud, and praised her as "one of the most influential artists in women's rock 'n' roll." '
Arthur Rimbaud was a wild and savage romantic, drunken rebel and rambler, sexual misfit shot by his male lover, who composed his entire oeuvre of poems between the ages of 15 and 19, mostly under the influence of absinthe and opium. After that he stopped writing poems and lead a wondering and worthless life until he finally decomposed into a deliurm at Marseilles. He is buried in his home town, Charleville-mezeres near the Belgium border.
He is a perfect mirror for the French, right down to his Grand Poems.
-Zeno