Blackbox manifold

Issue 14: Natalie Häusler

CORALS (excerpt)


And it is one to say

it is a coral it is

one to say it is red

is to say it is of anger

is to say it is enraged

is to say it is not dead

is to say it is active

is to say it is yet to come

is to say it smiles

is to say it was never easy

is to say what are you up to in your imagination

is to say you are a plant of selfishness

is to say you taste

is to say I like your style

is to say you knew it before

is to say why don't you

is to say come on

is to say break that glass

is to say I'm leaving

is to say you'll get to swim in deep waters

is to say why don't you?


Often the water is warmer in some

parts than in others and that has to

do with the distance of the surface

to the ground.


It it it

it it it

it it it

it


wants to be

warm


wants to be

felt


wants to be

plastic


wants to be

recycled


wants to be

rejected


wants to be

in the office


wants to be

downtown


wants to be

flat


wants to be

graveyard


wants to be

usb


wants to be

rye


It muss an die Macht denken.

Es ist soweit dass alles schwimmt

wenn man es löffelt.


Let's skip it

let's skip it then!


Ohjee. Ohjee.


Pan is tempted,

Pan is tempted to go for a walk

in his garden of jewels, of bells

und unverschämtem Gras

das kitzelt. Er mag es sehr, die Sonne

auch und wenn der Weizen schmilzt

und Ähren sich wiegen

im Wind des Wassers.

Er schreckt zurück

um zu beteuern, er steigt

bergauf zugleich im Fluss des Wassers Fuß

es klingt ihm in den Ohren

der Zeh geradewegs hinein

den Finger in die Luft.

Es geht nach links

und weiter in den Wald

die Böschung schreit

du solltest singen

wenn du's fühlst und gerne

auch danach wenn's dir

gelingt zu wagen. Es betäubt

dich eine schöne Scheu

du eleganter Bock

ich mag dein Fell

es glänzt so schön im Regen

und deiner Arme Anmut

ein Reigen, Reisig im zerzausten Haar

und Wasser in der Brust. The subject

has a thirst for sweat

or hair on skin and leg so loose

and magma in his neck a glow

of serpents strangling

the ecstatic breath. He wants to

lick the serpents tooth of

whitest white an ivory

to pierce or slice a tongue

of virtue and of speech

a tongue in longing for

the serpent's touch, electric contact

with a poison stored in honor

of the touch of tongues.

Pan and snake.

Four tips, two tongues, one flesh,

and then?


Du bist doch so unverschämt und frei.

Du bist doch

du

so unverschämt

und frei.


It was a sideways touch that hit

it in the head. It came then to the

realization that it was 28,7 x 20,5 cm

in size with a weight of 5,6 kg. Astonishing

was also a brown leaf falling onto a

brown hat or the brownish sky so

velvety a poetic kiss.

Kiss letter by letter, make it a word,

a sentence even, if you can.

I feel you. Don't give me that look,

it said. It said it was ready to leave.

It left.


Where is your temple anyways,

you statue?

You keep loosing your temper all the time.

You owe me a temple,

I hope you remember,

or at least a decent sized piece

of land, to put a castle on.

I touch your temple with my palm.

Is that rude?


I found this in the garbage.

It resembled your head so I thought

I better pick it up before it gets all

dirty and messed up.


Hello?? Hello? AH yes, here is

IT speaking:


It wants to be warm

It wants to be felt

It wants to be plastic

You know how it goes…


But anyways. I wanted to ask

when I can come to get my hair cut.

My head is all dirty and wet.

Someone left it in the garbage, you know.


The sun rises and it is day, it really is.

A flat bat drowns

its wings barely touching the clouds in passing,

water on black fur. It rains on top of that

scene. It is lit by killer light. Killer Light.


Urgent storms all over the place.

Urgent is angry. Urgent calls Jürgen.

"Hi Jürgen. I'm not feeling well.

Yeah, some kind of fever. Wild stuff."

Urgent hangs up, drinks a glass of gin.

Urgent feel less nervous now.

It's some kind of greenish yellow, you know

with a tint of magenta. The kind you think

could be perceived as warm but it's in fact

a cold tone. Do you know which one I mean?


Water falls down the waterfall. Water falls down

the waterfall. Water falls down the waterfall

Water falls down the waterfall. More water

falls down the waterfall.


I smell the gin in his breath. "Are you drunk

Urgent? How does that make you feel? I

cannot imagine. Do you want me to bring you

some materials so you can experiment?


I feel drunk, that's the only thing I feel,

Urgent says. Ah, of course. "No, you don't

understand, I feel always drunk. No matter

what." Ah of course.


No, you don't understand. Ah of course.

No, you don't understand. Ah of course.

No, you don't understand. Ah of course.

No, you don't understand. Ah of course.


Milk runs down that tree, runs up

the monkey jumps towards the rich flavor,

a coconut of flesh and nail polish pours

all over the place. Monkey is tired, sticks

its tongue out, puts the nut in a plastic bag.


Precautious experiment with angles and

the rest is history. I have a foot in the door.

It hurts. It better does, it better does.

I'm telling you. That's how it goes.


A reflection of the tree in the screen

interrupted by face showing signs of thinking,

a cheap effect, it works on you.

A belief system is painted

on latex coated walls.

A belief system is drawn

on the flip chart of the dummies.

Just visuals, surface

remember, surface?

Die inneren Werte der Angst?

Chirurgischer Wahnsinn. Natürlich

bedeutet Oberfläche ALLES. Deshalb

and because of that, fear is creeping

up my lungs when I open my eyes,

dare to take a look, at basically anything

created by us now.


The relationship between image making

and agenda has always been complicated,

coded messages running like subterranean

streams through the history of painting.


Professional by professional

each one with a tender skill,

hugging, nodding, walking.

The weirdness of human interaction.


- Ein weiteres Weltbild

- Ein neuer Blick

- Ruhige Konzentration

- Liebe und Offenheit

- Fröhlichkeit und Großzügigkeit,

 in Gedanken und Taten

- Aufmerksamkeit


The skill is going for a hunt with

the hunter, skinny dipping its furry

tail besides a tempting seaside bench.

Ooops, now you are wet. How to

hit the target? Locate the target first, no?

And then hit, or bite it into the center,

eh, heart, right? Oder poison, poison the

shit out if it, skill it all up, wrap it up and

skill it. Skillet tan it. Seeya later alligator,

and bring it, bring it on.


Es begab sich einmal einer

auf den Weg um nach diesem

zu suchen und es war gelb.

Dann hat er es gefunden

und war fortan glücklich

und zufrieden.


And then and then and then?

Das geht so nicht!

Halt die Klappe!


Seaside bench a flower growing in the wood,

a fossil stain and porous green lacquer

smells like sandalwood, air everywhere air.


Sie sind hierhin gekommen

weil du sie angerufen hast

und jetzt sind sie da

und warten

bis der Winter kommt oder der Sommer

oder der Frühling oder der Herbst

oder was weiss ich. Auf jeden Fall

warten sie lange, solange sie wollen.

Und dann gehen sie woanders hin.


The change of weather was quite sudden.

After desert gowns had been replaced by

woolen suits the wind set in, a never-ending

respiratory flow. We too changed our pace

of breathing, just for the sake of it, blending in,

to camouflage with any type of cruelty we would

encounter, for … sake.


Now it was now, and that could last, very silent

and calm, mimicking rage, grief, pain, exhaustion

as long as … .


Siblings pass a mirror of sorts, relate to it, themselves,

their thing of being me me you you I I. While witnessing

this in form of voice an unprecedented transmission of

genetic material takes place. Holding their hands, touching

their lips with our finger tips we want the debate now. Wanting

to be sibling, to break ties, to learn to speak yours ours my

their language in order to shape shift elegantly if necessary.


Clenching the fingers, holding the blanket, waiting

to uncover parts of the moon, the one that says: "Hey."

Nowhere is very strong at the moment with a special

skill of choking diligently. "So cool!" Just more clouds

than anyone could ever eat. And I hear them talking

more and more, not so fast really but just a lot. Matter

is forgiving, is that a sentence?


And then it was then so how to ever end a sentence,

the paragraph of mourning and quiet disbelief? The

ground encounters lots of it, all the time,

reacts with indifference, equilibrating without judgement,

providing the site for murder, providing the site for lying

in the grass, providing the site for running around being

stressed out, providing the site for a fight, providing the

site for I need to eat something, providing the site for plants

to grow in, trash to be thrown at, providing.


You were there suddenly and so hungry. I've never felt

such innocent hunger, how could I think it was my own?

Soft sweet tones, sleepy softness, sinking in there

and then snowflakes again, those types flying upwards

on their way down.


A new sun, just like this.

The corals all white now,

their red, wasted somewhere else,

plankton all over the dead creatures,

unable to process the unintentional matter.

Ausser Atem, das Skelett jedoch bleibt intakt.

Die Korallenbleiche setzt ein und das bedeutet:

CORAL VS. PLANKTON

Die Unbeweglichen begegnen den Umherirrenden.

They meet, they recognize each other but are now

completely unable to make use of each other.

The water is boiling hot.

No.

The water seems boiling hot.

The organism separates.

Both parts die within eight weeks

if they don't manage to establish a

new connection.


Liquid drips down the cold stone,

underwater sweat mixes with deep sea water.

A stressed coral skeleton is in the process of

rejecting its plant companion.

Witness coral stress caused by an

uncomfortable algae.

Witness hot algae, taste algae sweat.

Water can't wash away this type of sweat,

it lingers like an invisible deep sea oil spill,

sucks life out of the coral skeleton

quickly in the process of forgetting

how to survive on its own.

Natalie Häusler is an artist and poet living in Berlin. Her book A Virus Can be on a Mussel or in Some Liquid on This Salad Leaf or That Tomato or in This Person’s Mouth or Not came out with Mousse Publishing, Milan. Another part of Corals can be read in VierSomes Publication 004, Veer Books, Birkbeck College’s Contemporary Poetics Research Centre (CPRC), London. She is a co-editor of American Books.