Bottlerack(et)

Artists only eat their replicas
when disturbed, fearing for the original’s life.
Courtship rituals are prolonged during which
artist and object circle one another.
There’s no evidence to support Aristotle’s report
that conceptual artists mate facing spine-to-spine.
The art itself does not occur for quite some time.
Soon after birth, quills harden, becoming stiffer,
sharper and longer. This is a personal experiment.
Let us say no more about it.  [He never could find the receipt]

In response to Marcel Duchamp's 'Bottlerack' 1961 (replica of 1914 original).

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.