Farewell Guido

Bizarre Cities

TOM SPECIAL

April 2015

Participants in the special edition of

“Bizarre Cities” in memoriam Guido Vermeulen

Mim Golub Scalin, USA

David Stone, USA

Josephine Reichert, UK

Judy Skolnik, USA

David Dellafiora, Australia

Katerina Nikoltsou, Greece

Cheryl Penn, South Africa

Tiziana Baracchi, Italy

Rebecca Guyver, UK

JJalltheway (Jennifer Jones), USA

Alicia Starr, USA

Meral Ağar, Turkey

Petrolpetal, South Africa

Eric Basso, USA

PC(TICTAC), Germany

Miche-Art-Universalis, Belgium

Carl Baker, Canada

Nancy Bell Scott, USA,

Gina Ulgen, UK

Paul & Mireille Verhulst – Engelbert, Belgium

Bernd Reichert, Belgium

When the dreamer dies, what happens to the dream?

Editorial

When I moved to Belgium or maybe better said stranded on the

surreal shores of this place on my way to the Pacific Ocean

(which I never saw), Guido was the first to great me as Bel-

gian, Mail Artist and friend, most probably the other way

around.

Belgium, this tiny but deeply split country where a surreal-

ist and rebel artist is a bourgeois man of approved stature

with a boulder.

I still remember the first time I visited him in his apart-

ment in the middle of Brussels red-light district close to

the Gare du Nord railway station. Coming from a different

planet, only a few years after the Berlin wall had come down,

I still wasn’t used to see those girls in their windows look-

ing at me while I was trying to find Guido’s entry door.

It has always been great fun meeting him, he knew everybody

and it seems everybody knew him. He was very generous in

sharing his contacts with others, it was only through him

that I really got into Mail Art and its eternal network. Peo-

ple from all over the world would come and stay in his place.

We were sitting in his tiny walled backyard garden in the

middle of the city. But this was already when he had moved to

another place, a cellar flat in the basement of a Brussels

townhouse, because the old environment was changing to dras-

tically and became too fundamental. And this for him who was

tolerant in a fundamental way. But what made him really angry

were all kinds of intolerance, religious narrow-mindedness –

on all sides - and violence, in particular to children. The

seemly increasing paedophilia over the years was one recur-

rent theme in many of his expressions.

The years went past, we got older, maybe slower, our inter-

ests parted. Guido was very much involved in internet based

and collaborative forms of poetry, increasing his huge net-

work even further.

We met less often, life took its toll.

It would have been high time for another meeting, talking

about old and new friends, projects, our ever increasing ill-

nesses, love and loneliness and many other things. Before

that I got the news that Guido had gone for ever…

Well this is how the story goes. I might not remember the ex-

act times and right sequence anymore, but hey - who cares!

It’s the memory which counts and this is a memory. Thank you

to everybody who contributed to this book.

Farewell Guido.

- Eric Basso

_____________________________________________________________

THE STONES OF APHINAR

in memoriam

Guido Vermeulen

the Aphinarians call them bools

a ball of opalescent water hangs

in the air with nothing to contain it

and not a drop is lost

each bool cradles the dry stone

asleep in its nucleus

the poet asleep in its stone

water lighter than air

stone lighter than water

visible in the stillness

where ripples on the surface

shrink and die away

only then can the poet hope to

read a stone's inscription

the soundless nocturne whose

score is impossible to play

the trees give up their entrails

end of the journey that

death set in motion

drifting through the high grass

a poet has crossed the ramparts

to become one with

the floating stones of Aphinar

October 7, 2014 --

Ne Me Quitte Pas

Ne me quitte pas

Il faut oublier

Tout peut s'oublier

Qui s'enfuit déjà

Oublier le temps

Des malentendus

Et le temps perdu

A savoir comment

Oublier ces heures

Qui tuaient parfois

A coups de pourquoi

Le coeur du bonheur

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

Moi je t'offrirai

Des perles de pluie

Venues de pays

Où il ne pleut pas

Je creuserai la terre

Jusqu'après ma mort

Pour couvrir ton corps

D'or et de lumière

Je ferai un domaine

Où l'amour sera roi

Où l'amour sera loi

Où tu seras reine

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

Je t'inventerai

Des mots insensé

Que tu comprendras

Je te parlerai

De ces amants-là

Qui ont vu deux fois

Leur coeur s'embrasser

Je te raconterai

L'histoire de ce roi

Mort de n'avoir pas

Pu te rencontrer

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte Pas

Ne me quitte pas

On a vu souvent

Rejaillir le feu

D'un ancien volcan

Qu'on croyait trop vieux

Il est paraît-il

Des terres brûlées

Donnant plus de blé

Qu'un meilleur avril

Et quand vient le soir

Pour qu'un ciel flamboie

Le rouge et le noir

Ne s'épousent-ils pas

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte Pas

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

Je ne vais plus pleurer Je ne vais plus parler

Je me cacherai là A te regarder

Danser et sourire Et t'écouter

Chanter et puis rire Laisse-moi devenir

L'ombre de ton ombre L'ombre de ta main

L'ombre de ton chien

Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas

Edition of 25

© with the artists for the individual artwork

© Bernd Reichert

for the assembling design and layout

This copy has the number

………21………

The „Bizarre Cities“ is a irregularly appearing collaborative art maga-

zine including texts, (visual) poetry and original artworks in a limited

edition of 25 copies.

This is a special edition in the memory of Guido Vermeulen (1954-

2014)

So far the following editions have been published.:

Bizarre Cities Tom. I - Bizarre Cities - Summer 2000

Bizarre Cities Tom. II - Inner-Space Astronauts - Summer 2002

Bizarre Cities Tom. III - Urban Myths - Spring 2004

Bizarre Cities Tom. IV - Provincial Metropolis(m) - Spring 2005

Bizarre Cities Tom. V - Psychogeography - Spring 2006

Bizarre Cities Tom. VI - Fragile Correspondences - Spring 2008

Bizarre Cities Tom. VII - Surveillance - Summer 2009

Bizarre Cities Tom. VIII - Urban Travel Book - Spring 2012

Bizarre Cities Tom. IX - Urban Lights - Winter 2013

Bizarre Cities Tom. X - under preparation—2015