La main sur le mur

Michel Butor first became known as the figurehead of the 'Nouveau roman', but recently he has been writing nothing but poetry. Poems are dynamic, he says, they represent mobility and metamorphosis, for those with a 'nomadic spirit'. Some of these poems come to him spontaneously during a walk through the forest, but Butor usually writesto commissionfor a painter, graphic artist or sculptor. His bibliography lists over 1000 editions, hundreds of which include works of art by the likes of Pierre Alechinsky, Gregory Masurovsky and Henri Maccheroni.

Another artist with whom Butor collaborated regularly is Julius Baltazar (alias Lambion Gilles). Their collaboration began after a meeting in 1978. They produced dozens of books and works of art together, usually in exclusive limited editions (sometimes of no more than two copies), with texts that were sometimes printed, and sometimes handwritten by Butor. Le main sur le mur was published for the occasion of an exhibition by gallery Lorelei (in Brussels) in sixty copies, each with an original dry-point, etched in PVC by Baltazar. This was the first print of the poem that was later included in the collection La forme courte (1990). That collection is typical of Butor's ideas, as he considers 'the short form' of poetry a great advantage in such hasty times: 'Poetry is the haiku of daily life'.