Ekphrastic Fantastic
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Zsolt Asztalos, The Canon – Contemporary Art
Installation view,
2020
in response to the installation by Zsolt Asztalos
Piece Out
by Anne Murray
The summer was shorter than it might have been
But I felt the tides sway and lull with your moons,
a lunacy of the silt at my feet
As if a celestial being had melted and fused my spirit,
a cold pumice and dust mixing with each wave.
The middle gray, the paring down of an argument and elation,
I bounce around the room as a drunken gnat,
who you thought remained imprisoned in your gin glass.
It doesn’t matter now,
it is just one piece out
You’ll swap me for another as on any other day,
a rechargeable battery or
a refill in a fast food station
along this long dark highway.
The floor rots beneath us, just a few years old,
but we never wipe away the tears and salt,
it’s corrosive you say and I nod my head, a silent descent
my copper nails turn green and white, blending as the blood in our veins once did,
it’s a chromium oxide green
that births its own arsenic in the summertime sweat,
the green of the grass over the plot where it all might end,
an eternity to rest and revive,
you keep resuscitating me just enough so I’m aware I’m still alive.
But the green’s all up,
the naïve ones have fasted long enough,
the sun turns itself introspectively,
an orbit implied or at the very least played out.
All that’s left is the washed out silt in the driveway,
the folded curtain of tarmac dusted lightly with concrete,
leftover lime where my body once lay prone across the bed,
an endless night the kind that lovers hold for electric humps,
bumps in memory for hours of raging
whether it be hormonal trysts or adult practicalities of not,
they know it.
We all know it, the space of lovers, the sheets gone dry, the stains and spills and lustful farewells, there is not reason to be had, nor questions… we deny this moment embedded in this sullen sigh. I have but one last thing to say, peace out, and …
Anne Murray is the Artist Curator of Cloud 9 Pavilion, Bangkok Biennial 2020-21 and lives in Budapest, Hungary.
She is both an American and Irish artist educated at Parsons School of Design in Paris (BFA), at Pratt Institute in New York (Master of Fine Arts and a Master of Science in Art History), and at The College of New Jersey Global Studies Program in Mallorca, Spain (Master of Education). Her work combines thoughts about Quantum mechanics, philosophy, poetry, song, photography, video, movement, and installation. She finds curiosity in the movement and stillness of rocks, octopuses, and trees. She is concerned with understanding multiple universes and perceptions happening simultaneously.
She advocates for a tectonic shift in perception and the upending of pre-established focal points to work towards a goal of meliorism and harmony in an environment shared with all matter. She has participated in exhibitions around the world including in Cf@The Research Pavilion, Venice Biennale, curated by Jeanette Doyle, and the Mediterranean Biennial of Contemporary Art, Oran, Algeria. She has published articles in Happening Media Magazine and Arts and International Affairs, the official journal of the Policy Studies Organization and of the Institute for International Cultural Relations at The University of Edinburgh.
Piece Out
by Anne Murray
The summer was shorter than it might have been
But I felt the tides sway and lull with your moons,
a lunacy of the silt at my feet
As if a celestial being had melted and fused my spirit,
a cold pumice and dust mixing with each wave.
The middle gray, the paring down of an argument and elation,
I bounce around the room as a drunken gnat,
who you thought remained imprisoned in your gin glass.
It doesn’t matter now,
it is just one piece out
You’ll swap me for another as on any other day,
a rechargeable battery or
a refill in a fast food station
along this long dark highway.
The floor rots beneath us, just a few years old,
but we never wipe away the tears and salt,
it’s corrosive you say and I nod my head, a silent descent
my copper nails turn green and white, blending as the blood in our veins once did,
it’s a chromium oxide green
that births its own arsenic in the summertime sweat,
the green of the grass over the plot where it all might end,
an eternity to rest and revive,
you keep resuscitating me just enough so I’m aware I’m still alive.
But the green’s all up,
the naïve ones have fasted long enough,
the sun turns itself introspectively,
an orbit implied or at the very least played out.
All that’s left is the washed out silt in the driveway,
the folded curtain of tarmac dusted lightly with concrete,
leftover lime where my body once lay prone across the bed,
an endless night the kind that lovers hold for electric humps,
bumps in memory for hours of raging
whether it be hormonal trysts or adult practicalities of not,
they know it.
We all know it, the space of lovers, the sheets gone dry, the stains and spills and lustful farewells, there is not reason to be had, nor questions… we deny this moment embedded in this sullen sigh. I have but one last thing to say, peace out, and …
Anne Murray is the Artist Curator of Cloud 9 Pavilion, Bangkok Biennial 2020-21 and lives in Budapest, Hungary.
She is both an American and Irish artist educated at Parsons School of Design in Paris (BFA), at Pratt Institute in New York (Master of Fine Arts and a Master of Science in Art History), and at The College of New Jersey Global Studies Program in Mallorca, Spain (Master of Education). Her work combines thoughts about Quantum mechanics, philosophy, poetry, song, photography, video, movement, and installation. She finds curiosity in the movement and stillness of rocks, octopuses, and trees. She is concerned with understanding multiple universes and perceptions happening simultaneously.
She advocates for a tectonic shift in perception and the upending of pre-established focal points to work towards a goal of meliorism and harmony in an environment shared with all matter. She has participated in exhibitions around the world including in Cf@The Research Pavilion, Venice Biennale, curated by Jeanette Doyle, and the Mediterranean Biennial of Contemporary Art, Oran, Algeria. She has published articles in Happening Media Magazine and Arts and International Affairs, the official journal of the Policy Studies Organization and of the Institute for International Cultural Relations at The University of Edinburgh.
I BREAK
Valeria Divinorum in collaboration with Flavia Bertorello
By deep contemplation of quotidian elements perceived within “reality”; We created this piece as an allegory of the human connection with nature. It is through these elements that we can witness the perfect balance of creation in the spiraled recurrence of time and space. Through detail and movement, photograms reveal potential entry points to landscapes full of magic and beauty. These portals create an opening to interdimensional fractal spaces supported by the spoken word, read from the book: Remember, Be Here Now, by Ram Dass.
Valeria Divinorum is a Brooklyn-based visual artist & architect working with glass-metal sculptures, art installations and video art. With formal training in the School of Architecture in Buenos Aires, her work specializes in stained-glass sculptural objects which she uses as a lens to experiment with the intangible properties of light. She has a deep interest in exploring the optical perception of space through traditional techniques and tangible textures, creating dispersion of light into spectral components.
Flavia Bertorello is a process artist and architect investigating the relationship between form and matter through a practice that includes: writing, drawing and experimenting with materials in various formats, scales & spatial contexts.
"My practice construes my experience. I’m interested in the exchange that takes place between my body and the materials I choose to interact with. I regard the process of my work as a total body experience, meandering intuitively about art forms, natural phenomena and material qualities. The bodies I create are the remnants of the dialogue that take place between my body and the materials during the process of making: I establish relationships with them and embrace their qualities while breathing new life into them."
Valeria Divinorum in collaboration with Flavia Bertorello
By deep contemplation of quotidian elements perceived within “reality”; We created this piece as an allegory of the human connection with nature. It is through these elements that we can witness the perfect balance of creation in the spiraled recurrence of time and space. Through detail and movement, photograms reveal potential entry points to landscapes full of magic and beauty. These portals create an opening to interdimensional fractal spaces supported by the spoken word, read from the book: Remember, Be Here Now, by Ram Dass.
Valeria Divinorum is a Brooklyn-based visual artist & architect working with glass-metal sculptures, art installations and video art. With formal training in the School of Architecture in Buenos Aires, her work specializes in stained-glass sculptural objects which she uses as a lens to experiment with the intangible properties of light. She has a deep interest in exploring the optical perception of space through traditional techniques and tangible textures, creating dispersion of light into spectral components.
Flavia Bertorello is a process artist and architect investigating the relationship between form and matter through a practice that includes: writing, drawing and experimenting with materials in various formats, scales & spatial contexts.
"My practice construes my experience. I’m interested in the exchange that takes place between my body and the materials I choose to interact with. I regard the process of my work as a total body experience, meandering intuitively about art forms, natural phenomena and material qualities. The bodies I create are the remnants of the dialogue that take place between my body and the materials during the process of making: I establish relationships with them and embrace their qualities while breathing new life into them."
G10 from Sun Sun YIP on Vimeo.
in response to Sun Sun Yip's work
Red birds and discharge
by Lujane Pagganwala
Red birds and discharge
Seven shades less four
.
Red sun arbitration
Intellectual incineration
.
Oscillate your being in me
Condense this waterfall to be
.
Jell-o light
Smell of fright
Pull me
In me
Round the garden
In the harness
.
Freefalling
.
Embryonic constellations
Of diligent existence
Bring me forth
From what has gone
What is
And what will become
.
A relentless and eternal orbit
Of futile quiddity
Choose now
1, 2, 3?
Lujane Vaqar Pagganwala b. 1997. Pagganwala is a multidisciplinary artist, and lives and works in Karachi, Pakistan. Graduated from Indus Valley School Of Art and Architecture, with a Bachelor’s in Fine Art, she has majored in Sculpture and New Media Art. Pagganwala’s work revolves around the idea of space, tangible and intangible, physical and metaphysical. She tends to create work that engulfs the audience and allows them to interact in some form to the artwork.
Red birds and discharge
by Lujane Pagganwala
Red birds and discharge
Seven shades less four
.
Red sun arbitration
Intellectual incineration
.
Oscillate your being in me
Condense this waterfall to be
.
Jell-o light
Smell of fright
Pull me
In me
Round the garden
In the harness
.
Freefalling
.
Embryonic constellations
Of diligent existence
Bring me forth
From what has gone
What is
And what will become
.
A relentless and eternal orbit
Of futile quiddity
Choose now
1, 2, 3?
Lujane Vaqar Pagganwala b. 1997. Pagganwala is a multidisciplinary artist, and lives and works in Karachi, Pakistan. Graduated from Indus Valley School Of Art and Architecture, with a Bachelor’s in Fine Art, she has majored in Sculpture and New Media Art. Pagganwala’s work revolves around the idea of space, tangible and intangible, physical and metaphysical. She tends to create work that engulfs the audience and allows them to interact in some form to the artwork.
Myriam Ait El Hara
in response to Myriam Ait El Hara's work
A Place in the Sun
by Gloria Monaghan
Ungovernable country,
a place in the sun
outlawed wilderness of wolves and women
dancing in the desert in Fellini’s 8½
tranced-out women of Dionysus
all the more sexual in their decline;
of course, it is the pubescent boys who dance
with her—eyes rolling in and out of her
head into the earth, sky, divine.
We seek and we find the edges
of these places where things come together.
Gloria Monaghan is a Professor of Humanities at Wentworth Institute in Boston. She has published two chapbooks and three books of poetry. Her chapbooks include; Flawed (Finishing Line Press) and Torero (Nixes Mate). Her books of poetry are The Garden (Flutter Press), False Spring (Adelaide), and Hydrangea (Kelsay Books). Her poems have appeared in Alexandria Quarterly, 2River, Adelaide, Aurorean, Chiron, Nixes-Mate, First Literary Review East, among others. In 2018 her poem, “Into Grace” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her book False Spring was nominated for the Griffin Prize.
A Place in the Sun
by Gloria Monaghan
Ungovernable country,
a place in the sun
outlawed wilderness of wolves and women
dancing in the desert in Fellini’s 8½
tranced-out women of Dionysus
all the more sexual in their decline;
of course, it is the pubescent boys who dance
with her—eyes rolling in and out of her
head into the earth, sky, divine.
We seek and we find the edges
of these places where things come together.
Gloria Monaghan is a Professor of Humanities at Wentworth Institute in Boston. She has published two chapbooks and three books of poetry. Her chapbooks include; Flawed (Finishing Line Press) and Torero (Nixes Mate). Her books of poetry are The Garden (Flutter Press), False Spring (Adelaide), and Hydrangea (Kelsay Books). Her poems have appeared in Alexandria Quarterly, 2River, Adelaide, Aurorean, Chiron, Nixes-Mate, First Literary Review East, among others. In 2018 her poem, “Into Grace” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her book False Spring was nominated for the Griffin Prize.
Cyrilla Mozenter, a uniform hieroglyphic, 2020 | Group 6. Industrial wool felt hand stitched with silk thread. Each of 4 units 10" x 38"
in response to Cyrilla Mozenter's work
Catherine Rogers is a writer and performer whose plays have been seen at Dixon Place, the Women’s Project, Cleveland Public Theatre, the Athens Centre, and many others. Her writing is published in Our Changing Journey to the End (Praeger), Voices Made Flesh (U Wisconsin), The Drama Review/TDR, Gettysburg Review, and many others. Catherine is Associate Director and Lecturer in the Division of Narrative Medicine, Columbia University, where she teaches creative writing.
Walid Siti, Pending Tower, 60 x 45 x 45 cm, 2019
in response to Walid Siti's work
Climbing
by Karen Harvey
How many people
Who yearned to rise the corporate ladder,
to live in the penthouse suite,
find the air rarefied once they get there,
unsettled, never quite settling in?
What they thought of as fashionable,
those clean sharp lines
and the monochrome decor,
turns out to be
cold and comfortless
under artificial light.
Long hours at work,
no time for relationships,
they find themselves alone
and lonely, stranded,
looking down
at the birds flying free.
Karen Harvey, also known as 'Poet on the Beach,' is a poet, occasional artist and Writing for Wellbeing Practitioner. She lives on the seafront of a small town in North Wales and swims all year round. Karen's prize-winning poetry and flash fiction have been published in a variety of online and print anthologies and journals.
Climbing
by Karen Harvey
How many people
Who yearned to rise the corporate ladder,
to live in the penthouse suite,
find the air rarefied once they get there,
unsettled, never quite settling in?
What they thought of as fashionable,
those clean sharp lines
and the monochrome decor,
turns out to be
cold and comfortless
under artificial light.
Long hours at work,
no time for relationships,
they find themselves alone
and lonely, stranded,
looking down
at the birds flying free.
Karen Harvey, also known as 'Poet on the Beach,' is a poet, occasional artist and Writing for Wellbeing Practitioner. She lives on the seafront of a small town in North Wales and swims all year round. Karen's prize-winning poetry and flash fiction have been published in a variety of online and print anthologies and journals.
Seren Morey, Rainforest Rings, 2020, 14x10.5x4 in.
in response to Seren Morey's work
From the Shore of Dreams
by Holly Crawford
Rainforest Rings passed the winter
lying beneath the surface
traveling through and within
in an effort to trace a path of
hidden memories to Klaw
these golden petals
memories rich inorganic matter
rhizomes zigzagging artifacts
diagonally, sewed, stretched, pushed
from distant puddles
a web created to heal past wounds
mysterious and wonder such things came
Holly Crawford has used text performance, painting, drawing, installation, sound, video, sculpture to grapple with gender, race, and societal concerns for four decades. Installations and performances include: If I’m, who are you?...; Critical Conversations in a Limo (and books); May I have your autograph?; Open Adoption for Art; 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird; Offerings; The Dinner Party; The Road: The Century Freeway; Orphans; Water! Water$ Water?; Voice Over; In the Waiting Room, Your Past, Present and Future; and Art Alchemy and the Gift. Her projects have been seen and heard from California to the Tate, Venice to Berlin and Athens to Australia. Her books include, Attached to the Mouse, and catalogue essay, “Disney and Pop” in Once Upon a Time Walt Disney Studio, Artistic Bedfellows, ed., and 7 Days, My Art Life, ed. She is art historian. Her Ph.D. is from the University of Essex in Art History and Theory, BA (Economics, started in the Art Department), MA (Economics) and MS (Behavioral Science) are from UCLA. She taught in the Art Department at UCLA and at SVA. She founded and Directs AC Institute, in NYC, for experimental art and books.
From the Shore of Dreams
by Holly Crawford
Rainforest Rings passed the winter
lying beneath the surface
traveling through and within
in an effort to trace a path of
hidden memories to Klaw
these golden petals
memories rich inorganic matter
rhizomes zigzagging artifacts
diagonally, sewed, stretched, pushed
from distant puddles
a web created to heal past wounds
mysterious and wonder such things came
Holly Crawford has used text performance, painting, drawing, installation, sound, video, sculpture to grapple with gender, race, and societal concerns for four decades. Installations and performances include: If I’m, who are you?...; Critical Conversations in a Limo (and books); May I have your autograph?; Open Adoption for Art; 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird; Offerings; The Dinner Party; The Road: The Century Freeway; Orphans; Water! Water$ Water?; Voice Over; In the Waiting Room, Your Past, Present and Future; and Art Alchemy and the Gift. Her projects have been seen and heard from California to the Tate, Venice to Berlin and Athens to Australia. Her books include, Attached to the Mouse, and catalogue essay, “Disney and Pop” in Once Upon a Time Walt Disney Studio, Artistic Bedfellows, ed., and 7 Days, My Art Life, ed. She is art historian. Her Ph.D. is from the University of Essex in Art History and Theory, BA (Economics, started in the Art Department), MA (Economics) and MS (Behavioral Science) are from UCLA. She taught in the Art Department at UCLA and at SVA. She founded and Directs AC Institute, in NYC, for experimental art and books.
Poetry by Susanna González Turigas, translated by Pere Cowley Capella, and art by Francesca Piñol Torrent
I.
De l’aigua i de la llum sorgeix el traç,
ventall policromat a l’ull
que no oblida la conxorxa.
Romandre en el desig. Escriure
un text on la llum sigui un senyal
desvelat damunt de l’aigua.
From water and from light the stroke emerges,
a multi-coloured palette in the eye
that doesn’t forget the plot.
Remaining in desire. Writing
a text where light shall be a sign
revealed on the water.
II.
Era el llenguatge d’allò que es descompon.
La saba d’un relat, tintura que regalima
dibuixant llera i cristal·litza. La pell
de la magrana o l’escorça de l’arbre i els dies.
És inútil l’esforç d’entendre
el gest de la renúncia, tanmateix, sentiries
la distància com un bàlsam.
It was the language of something decomposing.
The sap of a tale; trickling dye,
drawing riverbeds, crystallizing. The skin
of a pomegranate, the bark of a tree and days.
It is useless: the effort to understand
the sign of giving up, and, still, one might feel
distance as a balm.
III.
Davant la vastitud, on no hi ha paraula, sents
el vertigen dels espais oberts. Anestèsia
no exempta de presagis.
Sola, entre clapes fràgils de gel,
sobre la clivellada superfície del silenci.
De lluny estant, segueixes l’onada
que llepa la roca i el liquen,
penetrant la matèria insondable.
Calles i exhales,
refugi badat,
per rebre un tot de veus que ignores.
Before the vastness, where there are no words, you feel
the vertigo of open spaces. Anaesthesia
hinting at a foreboding. Alone amongst brittle pieces of ice,
over the splintered surface of silence.
From far away, you follow the wave
that brushes over stone and lichen,
entering boundless matter.
You fall silent and exhale,
a wide open shelter. Unaware, you shall embrace
a multitude of voices.
Susanna González Turigas, poet born in Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona`s province, in 1963. She has published two books, Foranies (2017) and Totes les Veus (2019), and has participated in several collective books, La terra sagna (2018), El paraigua de Joan Brossa (2020) and Radical 3 (2020). Regarding the field of reviews, she has published in the Quadern de les idees´s magazine, in numerous blogs and has written the prologue for various poets’ books in the Catalan and Spanish language.
I.
De l’aigua i de la llum sorgeix el traç,
ventall policromat a l’ull
que no oblida la conxorxa.
Romandre en el desig. Escriure
un text on la llum sigui un senyal
desvelat damunt de l’aigua.
From water and from light the stroke emerges,
a multi-coloured palette in the eye
that doesn’t forget the plot.
Remaining in desire. Writing
a text where light shall be a sign
revealed on the water.
II.
Era el llenguatge d’allò que es descompon.
La saba d’un relat, tintura que regalima
dibuixant llera i cristal·litza. La pell
de la magrana o l’escorça de l’arbre i els dies.
És inútil l’esforç d’entendre
el gest de la renúncia, tanmateix, sentiries
la distància com un bàlsam.
It was the language of something decomposing.
The sap of a tale; trickling dye,
drawing riverbeds, crystallizing. The skin
of a pomegranate, the bark of a tree and days.
It is useless: the effort to understand
the sign of giving up, and, still, one might feel
distance as a balm.
III.
Davant la vastitud, on no hi ha paraula, sents
el vertigen dels espais oberts. Anestèsia
no exempta de presagis.
Sola, entre clapes fràgils de gel,
sobre la clivellada superfície del silenci.
De lluny estant, segueixes l’onada
que llepa la roca i el liquen,
penetrant la matèria insondable.
Calles i exhales,
refugi badat,
per rebre un tot de veus que ignores.
Before the vastness, where there are no words, you feel
the vertigo of open spaces. Anaesthesia
hinting at a foreboding. Alone amongst brittle pieces of ice,
over the splintered surface of silence.
From far away, you follow the wave
that brushes over stone and lichen,
entering boundless matter.
You fall silent and exhale,
a wide open shelter. Unaware, you shall embrace
a multitude of voices.
Susanna González Turigas, poet born in Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona`s province, in 1963. She has published two books, Foranies (2017) and Totes les Veus (2019), and has participated in several collective books, La terra sagna (2018), El paraigua de Joan Brossa (2020) and Radical 3 (2020). Regarding the field of reviews, she has published in the Quadern de les idees´s magazine, in numerous blogs and has written the prologue for various poets’ books in the Catalan and Spanish language.
Krolikowski Art, Crimea Dreaming 05
in response to Krolikowski Art Duo's work
by Kaja Rakušček
I quietly exist
a liminal person
a character of myself
warm skin, cold heart
my bleached bones rest on the red bloody shore at the end of the world
Kaja Rakušček is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in English language and literature. Apart from being a volunteer editor and a proofreader, she is also a recreational writer, a poet, and a film enthusiast.
by Kaja Rakušček
I quietly exist
a liminal person
a character of myself
warm skin, cold heart
my bleached bones rest on the red bloody shore at the end of the world
Kaja Rakušček is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in English language and literature. Apart from being a volunteer editor and a proofreader, she is also a recreational writer, a poet, and a film enthusiast.
Greg Baines, Broken Heart, acrylic on wood, 76cmx 76cm, 2019.
in response to Greg Baines' work
INTERVIEW IN RED AND BROWN
by Colin James
A paper rolls itself into folds,
the effortless sequence of long spaces.
My questions can keep.
The man wearing headphones says
you've gone walking on your path to the sea.
Never imperative like
which cliff steps will survive
even a life's work.
An empty container floats in the bay
implying impunity.
Colin James has a book of poems, Resisting Probability from Sagging Meniscus Press.
INTERVIEW IN RED AND BROWN
by Colin James
A paper rolls itself into folds,
the effortless sequence of long spaces.
My questions can keep.
The man wearing headphones says
you've gone walking on your path to the sea.
Never imperative like
which cliff steps will survive
even a life's work.
An empty container floats in the bay
implying impunity.
Colin James has a book of poems, Resisting Probability from Sagging Meniscus Press.
In response to Greg Baines
Cœur aimant
By Reyna
Frontières,
chemins,
la fibreuse texture de la vie craquelle, la pulsation ouvre l’espace,
là haut, le vide ou la lumière
je me faufile entre chaque surface attirée par l’orange flamboyant
qui apparait, transparaît
comme une terre d’accueil
chaude et veloutée,
cœur brisé, oui,
mais cœur aimant,
aimanté vers un pays terrible
Loving heart
by Reyna
English translation by Anne Murray
Frontiers,
paths,
gritty fragmented lifelines, a pulse that widens the opening above, the void or the light.
I squeeze between these textures,
lured by a blazing orange
appearing as a refuge,
its texture a velvet warmth which welcomes me
a broken heart, yes,
but also,
a loving heart,
caught in the magnetic field of this terrifying country
Reyna felt a connection to Baines' work and decided to write about it. For Reyna, the land embraces the elements as a corporal being; textures of rock, soil, and sediment become the sand of the beaches she visits, where she uncovers our final state of being. Reyna’s own work with drawing, painting, performance, and video reminds us of the importance of human touch in art and life.
Cœur aimant
By Reyna
Frontières,
chemins,
la fibreuse texture de la vie craquelle, la pulsation ouvre l’espace,
là haut, le vide ou la lumière
je me faufile entre chaque surface attirée par l’orange flamboyant
qui apparait, transparaît
comme une terre d’accueil
chaude et veloutée,
cœur brisé, oui,
mais cœur aimant,
aimanté vers un pays terrible
Loving heart
by Reyna
English translation by Anne Murray
Frontiers,
paths,
gritty fragmented lifelines, a pulse that widens the opening above, the void or the light.
I squeeze between these textures,
lured by a blazing orange
appearing as a refuge,
its texture a velvet warmth which welcomes me
a broken heart, yes,
but also,
a loving heart,
caught in the magnetic field of this terrifying country
Reyna felt a connection to Baines' work and decided to write about it. For Reyna, the land embraces the elements as a corporal being; textures of rock, soil, and sediment become the sand of the beaches she visits, where she uncovers our final state of being. Reyna’s own work with drawing, painting, performance, and video reminds us of the importance of human touch in art and life.
Ready for the Show, found lottery tickets, dental floss, sequins, 55" x 20" x 6"
in response to Rebecca Siemering's work
Canopy - Pleasing Embrace
by Bhavna Khemlani
A protective covering
canopied by lottery tickets
watching it from below
how the layers – many layers
slowly feels like providing a canopy
a colorful one
all recycled – depicting
care for our environment
even though
sometimes you feel the storm
is over – but
you’re in the eye of the storm
nothing to worry
calmest section - where people
causing hurricane
dissolving in the multihued
ruffles – fluffs
flowing slowly – downward
ready for the show
lives matter – always
standing tall
with confidence
slowly offering
powerful downpours from various
sequins
with a pleasing embrace
those hands – glitter
all the way
ready to perform
I am ready to stand up
wear those magical hands
my canopy – pleasing embrace
for a perfect
fulfillment
Bangkok, Thailand
Bhavna Khemlani’s empowering journey navigates being an Educator, Poet, Author, Corporate Trainer, Academic & Creative Writing Coach, Researcher, Reiki Master Teacher, Counselor Existential Well-being Counseling: A Person-centered Experiential Approach - KU Leuven, Belief Clearing and Mindfulness Practitioner. It's a thriving inspiration as Co-Leader of Bangkok Women Writers Group – BWWG. Novels: The Wagging Tale of Bliss-Reconnecting, The Classroom - Ashley & her Mystical Tale, and more. Author - Editor of Anthology 'Gratitude, Good News, & Guidelines' 33 nonfiction stories from writers across the globe. Her Non-Fiction short story, 'Love Shack' was translated to Khmer Language.
Canopy - Pleasing Embrace
by Bhavna Khemlani
A protective covering
canopied by lottery tickets
watching it from below
how the layers – many layers
slowly feels like providing a canopy
a colorful one
all recycled – depicting
care for our environment
even though
sometimes you feel the storm
is over – but
you’re in the eye of the storm
nothing to worry
calmest section - where people
causing hurricane
dissolving in the multihued
ruffles – fluffs
flowing slowly – downward
ready for the show
lives matter – always
standing tall
with confidence
slowly offering
powerful downpours from various
sequins
with a pleasing embrace
those hands – glitter
all the way
ready to perform
I am ready to stand up
wear those magical hands
my canopy – pleasing embrace
for a perfect
fulfillment
Bangkok, Thailand
Bhavna Khemlani’s empowering journey navigates being an Educator, Poet, Author, Corporate Trainer, Academic & Creative Writing Coach, Researcher, Reiki Master Teacher, Counselor Existential Well-being Counseling: A Person-centered Experiential Approach - KU Leuven, Belief Clearing and Mindfulness Practitioner. It's a thriving inspiration as Co-Leader of Bangkok Women Writers Group – BWWG. Novels: The Wagging Tale of Bliss-Reconnecting, The Classroom - Ashley & her Mystical Tale, and more. Author - Editor of Anthology 'Gratitude, Good News, & Guidelines' 33 nonfiction stories from writers across the globe. Her Non-Fiction short story, 'Love Shack' was translated to Khmer Language.
Joshua Dylan Rubin, Fall Out
in response to Joshua Rubin's work
PERSEVERING WITH THE PROPHESIES PROVIDED
by Colin James
My kitchen, your kitchen.
My bathroom, your bathroom.
Our hallway.
I want to thank you all
for coming here today
and for your tireless sacrifice.
Previously, Selflessness
was a village in Sweden.
Just a few specks
a cardboard archipelago.
Now we may get to reciprocate
with our own personal favorites.
Always had an appreciation of
wallpaper sainthood, not unlike
an ideological reparation.
Colin James has a book of poems, Resisting Probability from Sagging Meniscus Press.
PERSEVERING WITH THE PROPHESIES PROVIDED
by Colin James
My kitchen, your kitchen.
My bathroom, your bathroom.
Our hallway.
I want to thank you all
for coming here today
and for your tireless sacrifice.
Previously, Selflessness
was a village in Sweden.
Just a few specks
a cardboard archipelago.
Now we may get to reciprocate
with our own personal favorites.
Always had an appreciation of
wallpaper sainthood, not unlike
an ideological reparation.
Colin James has a book of poems, Resisting Probability from Sagging Meniscus Press.
Anne Murray, The universe has all possible histories 1, 2020
in response to Anne Murray's work
Leaving
by Kaja Rakušček
the night dissolves itself
into tears of dew
which lazily crawl
from the Thunderbird's vinyl roof
into the illuminating puddles
beneath its belly
dawn comes easy
the motel keeps quiet
and the vacated responsibility
withers away
whispering
»ego te absolvo«
pervasive and nauseating
prancing lights find you
weary and ready
for another day on the lam
and you leave softly before you wake
Kaja Rakušček is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in English language and literature. Apart from being a volunteer editor and a proofreader, she is also a recreational writer, a poet, and a film enthusiast.
Leaving
by Kaja Rakušček
the night dissolves itself
into tears of dew
which lazily crawl
from the Thunderbird's vinyl roof
into the illuminating puddles
beneath its belly
dawn comes easy
the motel keeps quiet
and the vacated responsibility
withers away
whispering
»ego te absolvo«
pervasive and nauseating
prancing lights find you
weary and ready
for another day on the lam
and you leave softly before you wake
Kaja Rakušček is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in English language and literature. Apart from being a volunteer editor and a proofreader, she is also a recreational writer, a poet, and a film enthusiast.
