The Master Herbalist – A Poem

Well, this one was a wild ride, much like the famous Banquet for Rousseau itself.

More of Rousseau’s works here. More on the outrageous party can be found here. Apollinaire’s full poetic tribute to Rousseau can be found here. A chronological summary of Rousseau’s life can be found here. More on Bénédictine here.

More of my ekphrastic poetry here. And more on the prose poem here.

The Master Herbalist

Flags, twigs, a banner – Honour to Rousseau – the year 1908, decorated Picasso’s studio
where the Master Herbalist and thirty drunk guests hailed Henri Rousseau –
Le Douanier – the father of naïve art, discovered by Picasso,
Portrait of a Woman amongst paintings in a Paris junk shop. Le Bateau-Lavoir
was lit by pink candles, reflected in the jewellery and eyes of the avant-garde
who ate from a buffet of cold cuts and cakes as November winds blew through Montmartre.
Braque played harmonica. Alice B. Toklas sat with the Steins, Leo and Gertrude.
A handful of poets offered despair, perspective. André Salmon took soap and chewed,
foaming at the mouth. Marie Laurencin smeared cream on guests in a flirtatious mood.
Ramon Pichot ate Toklas’ hat.
And Rousseau’s goodness-radiating face under a Chinese lantern as he sat
in an armchair, never varied as the bohemians’ compliments flowed about his wild cats
and jungles and ivy and liana vines and flat, bold, primitive, phantasmagorical scenes –
the Aztec landscapes described by Apollinaire, where monkeys
sucked juice like blood from watermelons. The Master Herbalist brought his Bénédictine,
distilled. And then gate crashers in boots and bandanas, drawn by gossip’s grapevine
rich with the party, barged in, stuffed cakes in their pockets and left. Finally, time
for an emotional Rousseau, to take up his violin, as a mantel clock chimed,
and play his waltz, Clémence (his dead wife). Amidst ringing applause, he slipped to the floor
in a stupor. And young Picasso declared the party for the sixty-four-
year old Rousseau well and truly done.

Surveying the aftermath, the Master Herbalist was pleased with his elixir: balance, harmony.
Twenty-seven ingredients in Bénédictine, the full list a secret money
could not buy. His began his homily:

– aloe, angelica, arnica, cinnamon, clove, coriander, fir cones, honey, hyssop, juniper, lemon balm, mace, myrrh, nutmeg, orange peel, red berries, saffron, tea, thyme, vanilla … –

Deo Optimo Maximo. D.O.M.
To God who is the Best and the Greatest.
D.O.M. Bénédictine.
D.O.M.

©elsp 2026