Issue 6: Carla Harryman
'Cutting Corners' Sound file: For Drum and Voice
Cutting Corners
(a score)
must one be direct, sense without reason
tree branch thugs the wall of a house, teases
body with ten error units freezes, what thought parts
leaves batched in falling wind, wither a rigid field
the protagonist of this call had believed, a borrowed quarrel
is a distant relative of the abstract behavior, among branches’
punctuation is the domain of the fishing line. Therefore stir
the feelings for a native world, a false habitus and earthly ploys
cement the striking constellation. The sun is earth in bone’s frisson
intersections intersecting, interstices sowed low
sound science, a bellow in reverse, a not being present
a not being and posit, which the cut will require
triage, then a satisfying swallow between graphic details
the surround shared among you, me and the lazy fear
signals the small narrative, magnified beyond the scrape
reveals its parts, an obscene procedure folded toward a bare
duration, which the speaking body stills
from this point forward, one stalling reach and a hoop
you knew, right? This science is a vein extracted as a pulsing
metric, fissures the name that names a point where we stood
without food, disposed said the diminished
frame knowledge insisted, words came faster and hunger couldn’t hang
that hat, was a fact on the hard fasting of sleeping codes
a missing performance still expected you had earned your
what? The body was unwilling to speak
at the accusation, and dumbfounded expectations covered
expenses, the betting fathers graveside bestiary
quilts purchased while animals’ bodies slaved with grace
they could not help but dignify, for the form was amenable
to modification, only nut-warn rings gave heaven a chance
to withdraw sense, and make note of nothing written
a tone given in the world, and not perceived without a veil
the corner formed by the eye, the code for proximity hidden in the open
lines of pressure, oil-flamed assemblies slather
careful observation, pressed upon torrential lightness
as symbols obliterate facts, but the early bird trespasses the grounds
for proper discernment, that power muffle abutted by crows
ducks give an alert, braving the leaf blower machines pollution
someone in situ, preparing the document in time, of time
“this is the decision,” but with what cause? Undiscussable
the ground given to cancellation, can’t rise above and see the misfit
detail or duty, torn around the knees
the mix of particulars, local plus soldier rattles
the one protagonist story, the no protagonist lowered to the earthly
level, flies cover over deposits in a fury of mine-shrapnel, limb, and memory
in a singular wrecking, what’s left is not human or mastered
but taped to a document, far from the lavish
elsewhere, an imaginary thing the frozen monied enjoy
bucks lamely, salving injuries with news left ajar
on a mantle, unseen condemnation of the loose note
must one be direct, sense without reason
tree branch thugs the wall of a house, chastens
body with ten terror units freezes, what thought powers
leaves batched in falling wind, wither a rigid tone
the protagonist of that call had wrested, a borrowed quarrel
Carla Harryman’s most recent works include a collection of conceptual and experimental essays Adorno’s Noise (Essay Press, 2008), the book length poem Open Box (Belladonna, 2007), and a sequence of essays in The Grand Piano, a multi-authored serial work that locates its project in the San Francisco Bay Area writing scene between 1975-1980 (Mode D, 2006-2010). The Wide Road, a novella in poetry and prose co-authored with Lyn Hejinian, is forthcoming from Belladonna in 2011. She is co-editor of Lust for Life: On the Writings of Kathy Acker (Verso, 2006) and she is the special issue editor on “Non/Narrative” for the Journal of Narrative Theory (Eastern Michigan University, forthcoming, 2011). Recent performance works have emphasized polyvocal text, bilingualism, choral speaking voices, and music improvisation.
