Gargano & Chinnock – August 2017
Alyse Chinnock and Kathryne Gargano traded art and words. Alyse shared this image, entitled “Corey’s Belt,” with Kathryne:
In response, Kathryne wrote this poem:
persephone falls in love with another daughter
in friendship we braid our hairs together head / head
pit / pit
cunt / cunt
in friendship we reach across the cleft in the earth & brush hands
cardboard mountains cut between / i blow
them down (i am a falling house
fall inside) you
sprang from the seeds i swallowed / our lips
together i want to be so close to you i am
you / in friendship
i lick your muscles clean
alphabet the sound of you / touch you where you tell me to i break
my vows & somewhere
a man turns a girl into a tree / green year round her body
a trunk eyes leaves cunt rings as old as every man
who’s ever taken her or tried o mother
o gods
o keeper-man & river
from the barn at night i steal your voice
make it mine
wrap your hair around my hand & pray
in your throat i leave a hymn
arched ceilings fibrous echos
on your belly i lay my head & listen for spring
to return for the water the boundless sky
* * * * *
Kathryne shared this poem with Alyse:
the king comes home & the queen is dead
stapled to the bathroom floor like jesus rising
up like / a caldron for a stomach / for a tomb
(like jesus, she’s the imprint, the mercy
without spices, chestnuts and grain, nine
candles burning on the bathroom floor) draw
me a circle in the water / fog-like spiders in
the window / the armchair queen is speaking
out out out into the waterweight / obey the
edge / her feet slip & the cry
In response, Alyse made this artwork, entitled “Obey the Edge”:
