Our dear friend, John Richardson, kindly shared with us these three wonderful collages of sirens.
Author: dar1thomas
Our good friend, Tracy Thursfield, kindly shared with us her wonderful painting of a siren, based on the Star card from the Tarot.
Many thanks to our good friend, Dominic Tetrault, who recently came across these wonderful sirens, drawn by Robert Desnos – and has kindly shared them with us, at La Sirena.
Source for both images: Jacques Doucet literary library – https://bljd.sorbonne.fr/search?preset=19&view=medias&fbclid=IwAR2tfzUJ6p1tLXNhT2ECPf308qPdqDMTZCmCuDd7-9aqV9lShwkxm7sxCtg
The siren is an important figure in Desnos’s work and life. Here is one of several poems featuring sirens.
His partner and second great love, the artist, Youki (Lucie Badoud) was also associated with the siren, which she had tattooed on her thigh.
Taya and I recently met up with several of the surrealists of Wales, including Steve Handsaker, John Richardson, Tracy Thursfield and John Welson, in the beautiful mountainous setting of Clyro, on my birthday. John Richardson kindly hosted the meeting at his house.
We created a collective collage and some collective poems featuring in the sixth issue of Surrealerpool’s magazine, ’Patastrophe! (7 November 2022). Although, Jean Bonnin was not able to attend, he was certainly there in spirit and provided materials and ideas, which we incorporated into the collective work.
I Am Still Here
Fridge Eyes and bakerlite eyebrows
Underwater music filters through the night
There where we murdered the mirrors
Vulnerable lips choking on mirrors
Invoking the mystery of days to come
Announcing the moon balloon of memory
The lost child embraced chance encounters
Coins tossed, dice shaken, and light bulbs smashed
Light filtered in the shrine of a stolen memory singing
I am a man, I am a woman, I am a fighter – I am still here
Over A Number
Over a number
Blue stolen shadows creep
Light refracts on the breaking of dawn
The asparagus train pulls into the station
We play games with their faces nightly
The dragon dresses in the latest fashion
And ice falls from the eyes of the woman in black
As the dice swallow the odd numbers only
The egg is buried in the graveyard, never to be seen again
As golden tears fall on the luminous ground
Jean Bonnin
Taya King
John Richardson
Darren Thomas
26 July 2022
I also received a number of birthday gifts. Here are two that Tracy Thursfield and John Welson created:
Our dear friend, Christine Haller, recently tracked down this rather marvellous siren by Myrlade Constant, in Venice, at the Biennale.
Our very good friend, Irene Plazewska, kindly shared this wonderful image with us.
Our dear friend, John Welson, has discovered another siren: ‘Wired and waiting. I called out to her, but her gaze was fixed upon the ocean, the rolling waves and turning tide…’
Categories
Exquisite Corpse
This exquisite corpse was created in a café, in London, during the making of the film ‘Masks of the City’.
Our dear friend and comrade, John Welson, shared this poem and image, along with the following message:
“I have found another mermaid/merman/merperson drawing from 1978 this time. The title on the rear is in fact a short poem and reads:
Tide turned
cut loose
waters wept
blade admonished
fin glimpsed
Tide turned
beneath the waves
return.”
As always, we urge siren spotters everywhere to continue sharing their research findings with us at lasirenasurrealistgroup@gmail.com.
La Sirena 