here's a poem that took me 20 years to finish
in the bar
machine overhead
somewhere in this cave
pushes dry heat
impossible to smell
the fossils
just two stools down
nothing but the blue fog
of american spirit
marlboro red and drum
throw more dark
down my throat
before the cold leaves
somewhere, this place we used to go all the time
automatically
pouring ourselves flowing downhill
spitting taps welcome us with foam and promise
nothing ever really happens here
just fossils fingering yesterday's prints
staring into the last points of light
there are no ears here
only smashing hands
bottles explode in a can
in the corner
petals of glass raise a hummock
every flower fades
the machines near the back door
suck change
burn, wail, sing in return
beer sweats beside me on sticky glass
bright reflections
catch each other peeking
i'm nearer the end of the bar than i would like to be
there are no hands
for this love no gesture
to mark completion
warped cue sticks
wait for chalk and pinballs
race across a psychedelic table
hide from bumpers
fight gravity
inevitably get stuck.
--jul 2012
29 July 2012
05 March 2012
local tarot
text for my Pecha Kucha presentation tomorrow -- local tarot: pt 3 of 5, the suit of cups
i'll post the pictures as soon as i figure out how to pull them out of PowerPoint, for not, just imagine...
1. Start Here
This presentation is part of an ongoing experiment in automatic art. The text is, for the most part, written in one go. No revisions, no corrections, no deletions -- unless it's absolutely stupid or makes no sense whatsoever, even then, i usually let it pass.
2. Title Page
The images are likewise created, staged, laid out and photographed with little real thought. This was my first title page. Latin for 19 cards found within my garage.
3. Garage
The original concept was to create a tarot deck using things that i could get my hands on without too great an expense of effort. i'm lazy. i took the floor of my garage as the background canvas for each card because i have a thing for concrete.
4. Title Page
The suit of cups oftimes is said to reference the element of water and the astrological BS that circulates through our symbol-choked subconscious selves. Personally, i think this cup of bacon fat works just fine as an opener.
5. Intermission
Kind of like when they play that little clip of sometimes interesting music on NPR between sometimes interesting segments of talk. A little visual sorbet to clear the buds on your frontal lobes. Actually i was one slide short -- this is filler.
6. First Card: Zero
Nothing much. Hard expanse. Some small sounds. Muted colors. Thin remnants of things well on their way to dust. No wind. No rake. The occasional stain.
7. Second Card: Ace of Cups
Lovely little sips, warm splutters and bubbles, dilating and rushing and now things are moving and now you know what time it is and you cannot believe something this powerful can be so cheap and so readily available and who needs nicotine?
8. Third Card: Two of Cups
How may boxes must you fill? Worthless wires waiting for a spark to send electrons running. Tangle and color and complementary connectors. Wonder what they all were used for?
9.Fourth Card: Three of Cups
Canvas, nylon, little windows you can write on with a greasepaint pencil, PLUs scratched out, paper covered wire ties with scribbled code. Promise of abundance. You take them with you everywhere and doesn't it make you feel better?
10. Fifth Card: Four of Cups
Sometime around 4 a.m. and the beeping starts. You scramble around in the dark looking for those 9 volt batteries you know are somewhere. Cursing, sure the next sound will rouse the rest of the house. In a drawer somewhere. You're pretty sure.
11. Sixth Card: Five of Cups
The cups are empty. Disappointment. Matter over spirit? You do not care how clean they are. Lay you down angry, with a headache, break one if it makes you feel better.
12. Seventh Card: Six of Cups
Sitting in your bedroom late listening to that song again and a feeling big enough to break bone. All that gets poured into a head over a life. Distillation for one. Dessication follows like an ugly rainbow.
13. Eighth Card: Seven of Cups
Beautiful box. Promise of splendor. Weight and noise. You shake it and it rattles. You should go back to ground. Build small. Practice before you get hurt.
14. Ninth Card: Eight of Cups
Been sitting on a shelf in the garage for the past several years. No idea what they are, looks like pepper, but are they sweet or hot? Will they even grow? Why did you even bother saving them if you're not going to label them?
15. Tenth Card: Nine of Cups
Last numbered card. Reasonably straight and past a certain length -- you've got to hang on to it, never know, right? When the levels rise you will need a ladder. You will have to go higher.
16. Eleventh Card: Princess of Cups
Crystallization. The power to give form to thought, substance to idea, you pour over it all and take another glass from the waiter just as he passes. Your morning may be gooey but this evening's solution is perfectly mixed.
17. Twelfth Card: Queen of Cups
Circle of life, right? That's why you recycle and compost and tread lightly and pour only good things into your vessel. You will feed as you were fed. You will flow downhill like all the rest but leave no splash to mark your entry.
18. Thirteenth Card: Ghost of Cups
Entropy is always in the corner. Clean up your spills, erase your tracks. Ignore the noise in the background. There is static everywhere, turbulence under the radar. You chase what has slipped through without fingers to grasp.
19. Fourteenth Card: Inversion
When this card is laid, you look to it's neighbor. You have a chaotic foundation, but it's everywhere, uniform, incompressible and wet. You always know where to go swimming. Catching, not waving.
20. End
Ok, so this one was a little sad. i need to clean out my garage. Two more suits to go, then we make a deck. Just what Saxapahaw/Pittsboro needs, a tarot deck. Thanks for your attention.
i'll post the pictures as soon as i figure out how to pull them out of PowerPoint, for not, just imagine...
1. Start Here
This presentation is part of an ongoing experiment in automatic art. The text is, for the most part, written in one go. No revisions, no corrections, no deletions -- unless it's absolutely stupid or makes no sense whatsoever, even then, i usually let it pass.
2. Title Page
The images are likewise created, staged, laid out and photographed with little real thought. This was my first title page. Latin for 19 cards found within my garage.
3. Garage
The original concept was to create a tarot deck using things that i could get my hands on without too great an expense of effort. i'm lazy. i took the floor of my garage as the background canvas for each card because i have a thing for concrete.
4. Title Page
The suit of cups oftimes is said to reference the element of water and the astrological BS that circulates through our symbol-choked subconscious selves. Personally, i think this cup of bacon fat works just fine as an opener.
5. Intermission
Kind of like when they play that little clip of sometimes interesting music on NPR between sometimes interesting segments of talk. A little visual sorbet to clear the buds on your frontal lobes. Actually i was one slide short -- this is filler.
6. First Card: Zero
Nothing much. Hard expanse. Some small sounds. Muted colors. Thin remnants of things well on their way to dust. No wind. No rake. The occasional stain.
7. Second Card: Ace of Cups
Lovely little sips, warm splutters and bubbles, dilating and rushing and now things are moving and now you know what time it is and you cannot believe something this powerful can be so cheap and so readily available and who needs nicotine?
8. Third Card: Two of Cups
How may boxes must you fill? Worthless wires waiting for a spark to send electrons running. Tangle and color and complementary connectors. Wonder what they all were used for?
9.Fourth Card: Three of Cups
Canvas, nylon, little windows you can write on with a greasepaint pencil, PLUs scratched out, paper covered wire ties with scribbled code. Promise of abundance. You take them with you everywhere and doesn't it make you feel better?
10. Fifth Card: Four of Cups
Sometime around 4 a.m. and the beeping starts. You scramble around in the dark looking for those 9 volt batteries you know are somewhere. Cursing, sure the next sound will rouse the rest of the house. In a drawer somewhere. You're pretty sure.
11. Sixth Card: Five of Cups
The cups are empty. Disappointment. Matter over spirit? You do not care how clean they are. Lay you down angry, with a headache, break one if it makes you feel better.
12. Seventh Card: Six of Cups
Sitting in your bedroom late listening to that song again and a feeling big enough to break bone. All that gets poured into a head over a life. Distillation for one. Dessication follows like an ugly rainbow.
13. Eighth Card: Seven of Cups
Beautiful box. Promise of splendor. Weight and noise. You shake it and it rattles. You should go back to ground. Build small. Practice before you get hurt.
14. Ninth Card: Eight of Cups
Been sitting on a shelf in the garage for the past several years. No idea what they are, looks like pepper, but are they sweet or hot? Will they even grow? Why did you even bother saving them if you're not going to label them?
15. Tenth Card: Nine of Cups
Last numbered card. Reasonably straight and past a certain length -- you've got to hang on to it, never know, right? When the levels rise you will need a ladder. You will have to go higher.
16. Eleventh Card: Princess of Cups
Crystallization. The power to give form to thought, substance to idea, you pour over it all and take another glass from the waiter just as he passes. Your morning may be gooey but this evening's solution is perfectly mixed.
17. Twelfth Card: Queen of Cups
Circle of life, right? That's why you recycle and compost and tread lightly and pour only good things into your vessel. You will feed as you were fed. You will flow downhill like all the rest but leave no splash to mark your entry.
18. Thirteenth Card: Ghost of Cups
Entropy is always in the corner. Clean up your spills, erase your tracks. Ignore the noise in the background. There is static everywhere, turbulence under the radar. You chase what has slipped through without fingers to grasp.
19. Fourteenth Card: Inversion
When this card is laid, you look to it's neighbor. You have a chaotic foundation, but it's everywhere, uniform, incompressible and wet. You always know where to go swimming. Catching, not waving.
20. End
Ok, so this one was a little sad. i need to clean out my garage. Two more suits to go, then we make a deck. Just what Saxapahaw/Pittsboro needs, a tarot deck. Thanks for your attention.
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