AND NOTHING BUT
Poetry by:BARRY SCHWABSKY
THREE POEMS
Barry Schwasbky has served as an art critic for The Nation and coeditor of international reviews for Artforum. As a poet, Barry has published several books of poetry including his 2015 Trembling Hand Equilibrium, published by Black Square Editions.In the first segment of TQR’s Digital Performance Series, Barry reads three poems from his forthcoming manuscript of poetry, tentatively titled, A Feeling of And. Syntactically experimental and refreshingly self-aware, Barry creates an economy of language, where each word carries its own material presence. With energetic certainty, Barry asserts in his poem LES Airshaft, “everything turns out perfect in the end.” A disillusioned optimism, truly resonate to our current condition.
And Nothing But
You can look in the mirror to practice crying
meanwhile words slip away
who could follow their braided repartee
each syllable a plan gone astray
last thought
best thought
next thought
do they realize they can see each other
the nights are getting longer
things it’s too early to tell
that infernal andante
the answer is never “never”
straying down dead end words
how do I look in this whisky
LES Airshaft
Good curtains make good neighbors
wherever there’s a pigeon on the loose
even with the monster of the week
everything turns out perfect in the end
full body, notes of dry fig and tobacco
the subtle caramel sweetness
of piled-up thoughts
seemingly shameless platonism exhibited here
but amiably peopled
and of fruit
in which mortality coils
waiting
waning
a young girl peeks at an old moon
and dreams of her all-nothingness
only love reminds you of love
Radio Free Love
For once the sounds moved toward us
we’d slipped them in
among memories hardly worth keeping
means-tested, addressing clouds
birds and the spirits of the dead
not to be discouraged
its feral form goes live before
your novelization of it gets written
that’s how the lightning starts
when the weather gets strange
with thunder you can’t hear
write it down now
before it takes off and our thoughts
self-interpenetrate
Follow Barry:
Instagram: @ mr_tranquil_tranquil_waters
Bio:
Barry Schwabsky is art critic for The Nation and co-editor of international reviews for Artforum. He has published three books of poetry--most recently, Trembling Hand Equilibrium (Black Square Editions, 2015). His new collection, A Feeling of And, will be published in 2021.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
EST 2020
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© THE QUARTERLESS REVIEW ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
EST 2020
︎
© THE QUARTERLESS REVIEW ALL RIGHTS RESERVED