Bad Poems #1

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: a series of haikus

I

I thought you'd look like

the Little Prince. But you don't.

Still, the restless op-

II

-timism and the

amazement and wonder in

your books? Beautiful. 

III

Wind, Sand, and Stars, (or

Terre des hommes in French) is full

of relentless love

IV

for your profession

and the world around you and

life. A voice that is

V

refreshing to hear

in an age of cynici-

sm. Thank you for that.

I'm really enjoying Wind, Sand, and Stars so far, for the reasons I've attempted to delineate above. It's so full of joy. It's very humanist in the sense that de Saint-Exupéry truly loves humanity –– the innovation, the adventure, the nature. It's very much a book full of machismo; courage and honesty and all that. And I guess you could say it's #problematic in terms of not criticising colonialism, or even celebrating it as an act of pioneering. But somehow I'm not bothered by that. The exhilarating sense of freedom is just amazing. I love reading film reviews when the critic has absolutely LOVED the film, because you can just feel the excitement and wonder and appreciation within every word and every line. (Film reviews where the critic abhors the film are also entertaining to read because they are often very funny as the critic searches for ways to describe how awful the film was.) De Saint-Exupéry just really loves to fly, to discover, to experience. It's a childish kind of love, with not a single drop of cynicism or negativity or self-consciousness about it.

Man, I gotta say: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. That is just one of the nicest names ever.