Large Fierce Mammal

Der lästige Kavalier (The Irritating Gentleman), 1874, by Berthold Woltze

It was long enough ago that I can’t remember when I started referring  to them as “Fruit Flies”, but it’s become part of the LFM family lexicon. They’re males, generally older but on those occasions when not, youth is mixed with social ineptitude yet no lesser amount of self-entitlement, and I commonly find them buzzing incessantly around attractive women, working alone, who find themselves trapped behind the counter of a convenience store or gas station. Merrily equating politeness with interest, they step aside when a customer comes in to pay but in that way suggestive of merely temporary disturbance from their rightful perch. I have put the run to a few over the years.

And so, tonight’s Dark Sentiment will be a look at the 1874 Berthold Woltze painting depicted above, and generally translated for English speaking audiences as “The Irritating Gentleman“. Here we have a young woman clearly dressed in mourning attire, riding a train alone. Her hair style announces that she is not of marriageable age and travelling without escort implies she has no other choice. The leering bastard behind her lets none of this get in his way, and the expression of his travelling companion leads one to believe he’s seen it all before. The tear in her eye could be from bereavement, desperation, likely both as she fixes the observer with a pleading look.

But an astute observer might notice something else in play. The left hand of our trapped and helpless victim rests upon her handkerchief and clutches her purse while the right is poised near her hat lying on the seat beside her. We see no hat pin, although much about this picture suggests the presence of one that may simply be lost in the visual clutter, and the subtle position of her fingers implies that the implement may already have been palmed at an angle placing it out of our view.

While it played out in a far more sexual context, the story told by this picture reminded me of my October 2021 poem, Bloodletting , the introductory caveat for which advised, “Be careful with your imagined entitlements. They might not be shared.” —

Tonight’s Dark Sentiment is dedicated to one who I once long observed habituating himself to a toxic level of self-entitlement until circumstances unconnected with near-death experiences reined him in. Notwithstanding what put the brakes on, I also observed that he never knew how close he came.

Bloodletting

By LFM

No tick to show intended harm,
No eyebrow raised to sound alarm,
Each gesture made conceals intent
While never meaning what is meant.

Unlooked for as the stooping Owl,
Unseen as fair o’ershadows foul,
Alluring glance, enthralling wit,
The die is cast, the warrant’s writ.

From yielding flesh the final stroke
May fall mid-laugh at some odd joke,
Unwanted touch, desires fanned,
The path is laid to ends long planned.

Grow not desires of rightful due
From confidence of prideful thew.
What prize be there to win or lose
Is hers who deals the stroke to choose.

We will conclude tonight’s gathering with this detailed review from Art Deco —