Pearce & Loprete – May 2020

Mario Loprete and Jared Pearce traded art and words. Mario shared this series of images, titled “NUMA Crew,” with Jared (click on any image to enlarge):

In response, Jared wrote this poem:

Oil on Concrete

Change is what we want,
something that will dip
then rise like an Adam’s
apple, or like a lip, glare

and grind, something to hold
a golden eye, then drive
the light off leather
where it cotton dries.

The scrolled frame, brittle
to wrinkle and wrangle,
needs a stain to drench
it into shape, the curlicue

hairdo or burning
knuckle bump to marry
it deep and rock it
asleep, a moment

the tight neck’s tendon
eases to belief, then chin
cracks pride: slick
and stone on the inside.

* * * * *

Jared shared this poem with Mario:

Maple

We wanted a little more
memory and lined up
to snap you again: your limbs

stiff as a bloated sheep
carry our heads like notes
on the treble clef.

In this last praise we rock
you a little, we cling
again to you and let you release us
from the earth:

you don’t let us down.
Even dying, like a fading tune
you hold onto us as
if strength was all you knew.

In response, Mario made this sculpture, titled “he was my father”: