Constantin's Colonne and concrete constructs

Yesterday marked 150 years since Constantin Brancusi was born in a Romanian backwater; looking at Glearth, the same kind of ribbon settlement in which I was pulled over for speeding en route to a wedding in Transylvania. This was the final leg of a very-long-and-not-without-its-adventures drive from south Manchester to Sibiu, without a proper map. As you do.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of Brancusi's work and should the Centre Pompidou reinstate his studio reconstruction upon reopening (scheduled 2030), I can highly recommend a visit. I was so taken with my first and subsequent trips that I often take it upon myself to create concrete poems in the shapes of his sculptures. Here's 'Colonne Sans Fin', from my pamphlet Using Language, which just came up as a FB memory – three years ago, lovely Invisible Hand Press editor James and I were finalising cover designs, garnering quotes and proofreading.

I've modelled 'Colonne Sans Fin' next to a photo in my Brancusi book of one of the Endless Columns in situ at the 8 Impasse Ronsin studio in Montparnasse (long gone, and replaced by a morgue; I've checked). Legend has it Brancusi twisted the arms of mates including Man Ray to help him lug a tree trunk back to Paris from the countryside so he could turn it into one of the columns – the next two slides show a column in the garden of a rich patron and some of the columns in the Pompidou show a couple of years back. That was a hot day – there's a selfie on my camera roll and I look like I've melted.

Anyway, bon anniversaire, Constantin, la multi ani! By coincidence, I've been working on some more concrete poems and sculpture-inspired pieces this week. The stars must've aligned.