Stair/Case

To 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
the idea of motion.
I stand to strike blows for space
cast a shadow-like picture of
the plastic duration of desire
without trying to argue [post-coitus]
who is the child, who the last step.

In response to George Karger's 'Duchamp Descending a Staircase' 1946.

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.