A significant other, Zeitgeist: Aug.31, 2001 & The spent slug was sold to Bogdan Rippoff, oligark, collector of conceptual art
by George Vance
[ poetry - january 10 ]
A significant other
As she was in her own way
as most are in their own ways
beautiful
the mime outlined her form
with expressive forefingers
around down around and up
down around and up and up
then lifted back the conjured cookie-cutter mold
and wrapped it with a bow
knotted near the envisioned handle
near the original navel
took it home with a smile of surmise and
making swift schematic preparations
cut from common dough a baker's dozen
of her
adding ginger colored sugar two red-hots
a cherry two dark candied fruits
the oven ready
placed them gently in
let mime-time pass
took them out
then indicating just-right hotness
ate them one by one
Zeitgeist: Aug.31, 2001
even the joy of re-engaging the oncoming death-throes of autumn
turns bitter on the tongue
something is or isn't in the air
or the air isn't how or where
it was to be
dear music inkles by the ear
it's en-losing balm notwithstanding
I am at a loss
why summer's end should end so
like a tainted hegemony
the approaching disappearing of fact-like
things
things like facts stick to one
with a kind of homemade nearness of meaning
now this middlin' muddle
through a hole in tomorrow
though a whole into this morrow
should be welcome
slim pickings of riddled fruit
close up a berry startling crab clutching a dozen globules
black-purple precursors
baroque's relics
only the striding cat and the lavender
feel forward into this fall
the rest submit
roosters croak anthems in the settling dusk
The spent slug was sold to Bogdan Rippoff, oligark, collector of conceptual art
Before shooting his painting
he took careful aim
before taking aim he loaded the pistol
before that he bought the pistol
before that he bought ammunition
ammunition
first, then a pistol to fit it
before that he finished his painting
prior to that he painted for days
before beginning to paint he bought canvas & easel
before that paints
before that a brush
no
difference which first, as all paints fit all brushes
prior to painting he thought what to paint
subject:
bullet hole
size:
bullet-sized
format:
round
he
was quite sure that square would not do
before thinking what to paint he
thought why to paint
before thinking why he thought why not
before thinking that he thought why at all
before why at all he thought not at all
prior to that he'd been bored
After having been bored he thought not at
all
then he thought why at all
after why at all he thought why not
then he thought why to paint
after thinking why he thought what to paint
he
was quite sure that square would not do
he
thought format: round
he
thought bullet-sized
he thought subject: bullet hole
he bought paints, then a brush
no difference which first, as all paints fit all brushes
after brushes and paints he bought canvas and easel
after beginning to paint he painted for days
when he finished his painting he bought ammunition
ammunition first, then a pistol to fit it
he loaded his pistol and took careful aim
after loading and aiming
he shot his painting
The Spent Slug was Sold to Bogdan Rippoff, Oligark, Collector of Conceptual Art
