Poems
-
Marcel Duchamp at the age of 85
By David AstleMD at LXXXV:
shadow-cratered, and crated:
the grand MOMA moon,
who created, and catered, -
First papers of surrealism
By Alex GallagherCraters dug coarse into unblemished skin
like sun spots convulsing along the surface
new holes erupt with violence and spew forth
I touch the ground and sink deeply into the fissures -
whispers & kicks
By David StavangerThere's nothing quite like that fresh, clean feeling
right after a shave. But all can be ruined once you notice
clumps of sink left in dark hair. I trained as a librarian.
This is a clear transgression of boundaries. Now I’m in -
Marcel Duchamp with Pocket Chess Set
By Evelyn AraluenI’ll play the light
and pocket each memory in mourning black
There’s something to be won from a rightful step:
a consent to match -
Stair/Case
By David StavangerTo cast myself on a wall
I literally had to stop time
let the staircase ascend my body
like a dream I had where I forgot -
A linè renamed
By Pascalle Burton
In response to Marcel Duchamp's 'Apolinère enameled' 1916–17.
Source text: The Essential Duchamp by Matthew Affron. -
From or by Marcel Duchamp or Rrose Sélavy (Box in a valise)
By Alex GallagherHow one compacts and compartments
a living body of work, beaten and breathing
two lives half lived sitting neatly in a briefcase
wrapped up in leather, untethered by its brevity -
The box of 1932
By David AstleSoon, when I suffocate
in letters, and sisters
sift my so-called estate,
you can presume -
Portrait of Dr. Dumouchel
By Alex GallagherLuminous skeletal
transfer your transparence
Won’t you rip open that ribcage and show -
looking augments itself (On Critique by Dave Beech plus Anémic Cinéma)
By Pascalle Burton
In response to Heinrich Hoffmann's 'Portrait of Marcel Duchamp' 1912.
Source text: ‘On Critique’ by Dave Beech in Art Monthly, February 2016. -
SixteenMilesofString
By David Stavangerbillyidol--catcradle--riflecartridge--composite--taut--evensquare
ficelle--learnerpermit--johnhughes--buddy--thepoweroftwo--onemile
ageofconsent--igaveitaway--prickafinger--caughtfire--donatebloods
chesspawns--wholeballroom--myersbriggs--wakinghours--thetowercard -
Belle Haleine: Eau de Voilette
By Evelyn AraluenDrain the bottle to drink her scent
named in a play of florals
Where different bodies dance in distance
in rose glass haze -
'Installation View of Exhibition "First Papers of Surrealism"', 1942
By Brian Fuata
In response to John D. Schiff's 'Installation View of Exhibition "First Papers of Surrealism"' 1942.
-
Yvonne and Magdeleine Torn in Tatters
By Alex GallagherA sororal split cut up and remixed
like a mirror askew down the middle and strewn
across canvas face in red and grey
we ricochet carelessly into each other -
portable museum maintenance hinge
By Pascalle BurtonIn response to Marcel Duchamp's 'The Box of 1914' 1913–14.
See the artwork that inspired this poem in the flesh, along with more than 100 of Marcel Duchamp’s world-renowned pieces, in ‘The Essential Duchamp’ exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 27 April – 11 August 2019.
-
With Hidden Noise
By Evelyn AraluenThis burnt out neon clack is to carry
a fire a long free sea
It’s fine and cheap and here
where deserts provide and unravel apart -
Portrait (Dulcinea)
By David StavangerPicasso never mentally dressed a woman on the street.
He could bear the thought of less and less clothes.
Picasso approached a subject with an eye detached.
Give me a woman’s hat and I’ll fill it -
Dart-Object
By Evelyn AraluenIf you’d known what and where I was leaving
from the pieces fallen slack by the mould
Desire might invite key or lock
or tempt you to hold objects in the dark -
This is a Real Poem
By David StavangerWhat’s the difference between a chocolate grinder and a poem?
The title of the poem cannot compete with cocoa.
Nor the mundane truth of the grinder. White chocolate
is the worst case of plagiarism in the last 100 years.
