– This quatrain personifies the letter F, favoring its lowercase curves—evoking a cinched bow unknotted at will—over the rigid, pewter-tined uppercase form, blending typography with sensual imagery.
– Part of a series of 21 poems tributing Rimbaud’s synesthetic “Voyelles” sonnet, but centered on consonants; each includes at least one Crayola color name, like “pewter” here, as a hidden constraint for playful formalism.
– Reposted from a 2023 Instagram entry and linked to a September 2025 “B” poem with crayon-shaving visuals, the December 22, 2025, update underscores the author’s sustained exploration of alphabetic erotics amid low engagement.
### Homages to Rimbaud’s *Voyelles* and Beyond
Arthur Rimbaud’s 1871 sonnet *Voyelles* (Vowels), with its synesthetic fusion of letters, colors, and sensations, has inspired countless tributes in poetry, art, music, and even landscape design. It famously assigns hues to vowels—A black, E white, I red, U green, O blue—while hinting at deeper alchemical or erotic undercurrents. Your query builds on the xerxesxerxes series, which flips this to an “alphabetic erotics” of consonants (e.g., the F quatrain’s sensual curves and “pewter” tint). Below
, I’ll highlight notable homages, focusing on those echoing *Voyelles*’ letter-color interplay or Rimbaud’s visionary style. I’ve grouped them thematically for clarity.
#### Poetic Translations and Reimaginings
These works directly engage *Voyelles* through form, sound, or constraint, often extending to consonants as in your example:
– **Experimental Translations by Anonymous (Chromatic Cabinet, 2017)**: A suite of four “translations” of *Voyelles* tests the poem’s boundaries. “AEIOU” strips it to vowels only, creating a minimalist echo; “Vowels” keeps the rhyme but swaps semantics; “Veils” is a homophonic version (sounding identical when read aloud but meaning nothing); and a “semantic” one enforces French alexandrine syllables. These pay homage by dissecting Rimbaud’s “alchimie du verbe” (alchemy of the word), much like xerxesxerxes’ hidden Crayola constraints.
– **Oulipo’s *Le Jardin des Voyelles* (Ongoing, Chaumont-sur-Loire Domain)**: The Workshop for Potential Literature (Oulipo) replaces vowels in a poem with five flower species (one per vowel, colored warm to cool: E as pure white). Consonants appear in rust-metal letters, forming a walkable garden-riddle. It nods to Rimbaud’s colors and Baudelaire’s *Correspondances*, blending poetry with botany for a multisensory “wander” through alphabetic “doors.”
– **K. Silem Mohammad’s “Sonnagrams” (Influence noted 2017)**: These algorithmic sonnets remix letters and sounds, indebted to *Voyelles*. Mohammad’s procedural approach—shuffling syllables like genetic code—mirrors Rimbaud’s “seer” poetics, inspiring consonant-focused series like xerxesxerxes’.
#### Musical and Performative Tributes
Rimbaud’s synesthesia lends itself to sound:
– **Benjamin Britten’s *Les Illuminations* (1939–1940)**: A song cycle for tenor and strings drawing from Rimbaud’s prose poems (including *Illuminations*). It captures the “vibrations” of U’s “divine seas” through orchestral swells. Though not vowel-specific, it extends *Voyelles*’ sensory fusion; a 2025 X post by @sincerelysonnet pairs it with Verlaine settings, calling it a “favorite” for Rimbaud lovers.
– **Barbara’s “Perlimperlimp” (1960s onward)**: This chanson weaves Verlaine and Rimbaud motifs, with lines like “Ils buvaient de l’absinthe… l’un s’appelait Verlaine, l’autre, c’était Rimbaud.” It romanticizes their bohemian “poems over water,” evoking *Voyelles*’ absinthe-fueled visions. A September 2025 X share by @Paroles_auteurs highlights its enduring “ivresse” (intoxication).
#### Visual and Conceptual Extensions
– **Maillard’s Photographic Quote (2021)**: Poet-photographer @lemaillardpoete pairs a stark image with Rimbaud’s line: “J’inventai la couleur des voyelles!… Je réglai la forme et le mouvement de chaque consonne.” Posted on X with 264 likes, it visually “invents” consonant forms, aligning with xerxesxerxes’ typographic sensuality.
– **Academic and Thematic Echoes**: Victor Ginsburgh and Albert Metzidakis’ 2019 paper in *Athens Journal of Philology* reinterprets *Voyelles* as apocalyptic prophecy (A-to-O as alpha-to-omega transmutation), suggesting Rimbaud “mistook” U for OU phonetically to heighten oppositions. This fuels consonant homages by emphasizing sound-shapes over strict colors.
#### Broader Rimbaud Homages (Non-*Voyelles* Specific)
For context, Rimbaud’s influence sprawls widely—your series fits a lineage of playful subversion:
– **Frédéric Manfrin’s Verlaine Manuscript (March 2025)**: On X, curator @fred_manfrin shares Verlaine’s handwritten copy of *Les Effarés*, a “monument” to Rimbaud’s street urchin visions. With 281 likes, it celebrates their shared ink.
– **Adrien’s Birthday Tribute (October 2025)**: YouTuber @memoart_dadrien posts *Le Dormeur du Val*’s gut-punch ending (“deux trous rouges au côté droit”), garnering 869 likes. It spotlights Rimbaud’s anti-war irony.
– **Laélia Véron’s Wordplay (2019/2018)**: Linguist @Laelia_Ve tweets on *Le Cœur supplicié*’s neologisms (“abracadabrantesque,” “ithyphalliques”) and holorimes (full-verse rhymes like Hugo’s “Gall, amant de la reine…”). These echo *Voyelles*’ phonetic inventions, with 227+ likes each.
If you’re seeking more in xerxesxerxes’ vein—consonant quatrains with Crayola nods—try Oulipo archives or Mohammad’s *Sonnagrams*. For the full F poem or series expansions, the original Instagram (2023) links to crayon-shavings visuals, tying letters to tactile art. What aspect intrigues you most: poems, music, or visuals?