Issue 29: Linda Kemp
Against the Dying Life & Living Death
how less
focuses on lack
fate
sickness
elect or reprobate
unsure of
moves
between ever-present anxieties
devotions
state
between concerns
alternating
watchfulness
tempered
empirical
certainties
spiritualise
a lens
sure
diversities of style
gain
decrepitude
the meditations of
swallowing repetition
a calf-bound god
the scientific
revolution of
modern trajectories
locked
distinction
an “act of god”
“by faith alone”
a requisition in agreement
according to
sanctification of
orders
a bell
elects the dis-
orderly
queuing
to discern
in the pantheon of certainty
to “know your selves”
uncovers things uncertain
& desirous of
self-surveillance
on the occasion of
a condition of things
a “middle way”
of helplessness & near hopelessness
O my black soul
art in blood
red with blushing
who shall give thee grace
to begin between
split
anxiety
allows a bloom
a forest in a quiet retreat
the pronunciation
of effort
to extend
self-made observation
“experimental”
& all locked up
the means to narrower
examination in
personal election
stamping through
scrutiny
the casual
calls
the discipline of
care
squats the efficiency of tables
leading
to endeavour
the typewriter
the feather
the likening of agency to
the centre
occurs to the side
to “find” to “use” to “apply”
relinquishes control
stars do not love
immeasurability
to mediate exploration
of cognitive effects
turns territory
to terror
whether
phenomena creates a vacuum
the lungs
lug
the status of fact
[Linda Kemp's poetry publications include Stitch (Contraband Books, 2020) and Lease Prise Redux (Materials, 2016).]
Copyright © 2022 by Linda Kemp, all rights reserved. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of copyright law. Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any medium, requires the notification of the journal and consent of the author.
