Rubin & Demond – Nov.13

Francine Rubin and Marlayna Demond traded art and words. Marlayna shared this untitled photograph with Francine:

In response, Francine wrote this poem:

incandescent parking lot dream

light is a sound
a force, you find yourself
in a cement field
indigo skies thrumming
headlamps buzzing on the horizon
street lamp blaring in the foreground
your mouth open
in awe of unnatural light
ecstatic white eclipsing the moon

* * * * *

Francine shared this poem with Marlayna:

We Are Tetris

Right angles are everywhere.
Trees are too nonlinear,
so they are annexed to rods.
Only the broadest shoulders

have the correct corners. Breasts
are bound to appear flat, and we never
gaze at the sun anymore. Each day
we practice our geometries:

march the 2 by 4 block that parallels
the skyscraper intersecting
the village square. We move in 2/4 time,
calibrating 2 beats per measure

with our bodies, curbing beats
that overstep boundaries.
Occasionally at dusk, our limbs ache –
feeling perpendiculars widening,

softening on the horizon – but
the sensation pales. At night, we hone
our drawings of arcs and lines, preparing
for the day when we will shape the sky.

In response, Marlayna created this photograph, entitled “Arcs and Lines”: