antonin artaud in mexico

POETRY during a trip to mexico in 1936, the heroin-ravaged french poet antonin artaud traveled alone to copper canyon in the sierra tarahumara to discover the peyote ritual with the native people. living in a cave, he recorded his experiences and hallucinations in his book “the peyote dance” — a poetic act of redemption and enlightenment that recon- nected him with life, the earth, and the supernatural. this was his last moment of joy. upon his return to france, in 1937, he was committed to mental institutions for the rest of his life. he died in ivry-sur-seine in 1948.  a note on peyote: extract from “the peyote dance” I took Peyote in the mountains of Mexico, and I had a dose of it that lasted me two or three days with the Tarahumara, and at the time those three days seemed like the happiest days of my life. I had…