Alessander's Mad Poets (AMP!) Forum Prompt: Surrealist Poem

"I was delayed that afternoon because I had brushed the teeth of a pretty animal that I'm patiently taming. It's a chameleon. This endearing animal smoked, as usual, some cigarettes, then I left.
I met her on the stairs. "I'm mauving," she told me, while I myself crystal at full sky I at her look that river towards me.
Then it locks and, maîtresse! You pitcherpin so that at nice vase I sit down if the paths tombs.
The staircase, always the staircase that library, and the crowds down there more abyss than the sun only clocks.
Lets get back up! But in vain, memories become sardine! hardly, hardly a button doodledoos. Fall, fall down! And here the verdict: "The dancer will be executed the following morning while doing a dance step with her gems sacrificed to the heat of her body: The blood of the gems, soldiers!"
And what then, the mirror yet! Mistress you black square, and if the clouds all at once forgetmenot, they mills in the ever present eternity."

    Robert Desnos, translated by Johannes Beilharz


Crazy? Disorienting? Disturbing? Gibberish? All of the above?

Welcome to the world of Surrealism.  

Just as Realism was linked to the Conscious, Surrealism is linked to the Subconscious, hence the poems usually resemble dreams.

Surrealism in some ways directly opposes Realism, which in Literature means discarding the rational, the logical, the normative, a breaking of form, rhetoric, rhyme and reason.  It is typified by seemingly random images, incoherent phrases, fragmented thoughts, nonlinear time, repetitions, jolting connections and mysterious digressions.

Now, Surrealism has always existed in poetry, but in the past it tended to be limited to sections of a poem, and not the entire piece.  But Surrealists embraced the subconscious and made entire works dream-like.

Method.  “Derange the Senses” as Rimbaud once demanded of all artist.  Suspending the conscious is harder than you might think (unless you’re already mad lol) since in your every day life you depend on reason, logic, common sense, linear time and familiarity.  As such, Rimbaud downed Ether, although I couldn’t in good conscience suggest you do the same.  Still, you may want to think about locking yourself up for a day to “derange your senses” in some sort of way.  Or, you can simply jot down a dream (although I consider this a much more passive and chicken-s**t process).  Just remember to try to focus on imagery, much like your dreams.  Another famous method is word association, I say “pineapple” you say…yet another method to break conscious tyranny is automatic writing (stream of thought), just jot down whatever comes to mind, no corrections, no matter how absurd.

It’s kinda hard to really pin down all the components to Surrealism, so really the best way to emulate it is to read such pieces or even immerse yourself in surrealist Art like Edvard Munch or Dali.  Don’t expect to become a surrealist overnight though.  Just let the ideas simmer in your psyche for a bit.


If you want a more detailed explanation, Andre Breton perhaps did so best, and here’s a link:



As always, I would like for you to post it on the AMP! page with some heading (preferably in the description section) entitled. “AMP! Surrealism” something or other.  

Anyhow, go forth my minions and populate the light with fragmented shadows…



"Everything leads us to believe that there is a certain state of mind from which
life and death, the real and the imaginary, past and future, the communicable
and the incommunicable, height and depth are no longer perceived as contradictory."

-- André Breton, Second Manifesto of Surrealism (1929)



Swift is Surrealist in malice, Sade is Surrealist in sadism. Chateaubriand is Surrealist in exoticism. Constant is Surrealist in politics. Hugo is Surrealist when he isn't stupid. Desbordes-Valmore is Surrealist in love. Bertrand is Surrealist in the past. Rabbe is Surrealist in death. Poe is Surrealist in adventure. Baudelaire is Surrealist in morality. Rimbaud is Surrealist in the way he lived, and elsewhere. Mallarmé is Surrealist when he is confiding. Jarry is Surrealist in absinthe. Nouveau is Surrealist in the kiss. Saint-Pol-Roux is Surrealist in his use of symbols. Fargue is Surrealist in the atmosphere. Vaché is Surrealist in me. Reverdy is Surrealist at home. Saint-Jean-Perse is Surrealist at a distance. Roussel is Surrealist as a storyteller.