IN MESHES
the I, this I, an I is an uneven piece, a mismatched piece
…………….a piece tugging at the corners that encase it, contain it
……..trying to stretch them, undo them, redo them
the “corners” (which are not necessarily corners or at right angles) form a
puzzle, a net, a fabric
……..……..……..……..……..……..in which the I fits more or less smoothly
……..……..……..……..….much of the time
yet occasionally (recurrently) the fabric presents un uneven surface to the
touch ……..……..……..….a small bulge
……..….an indentation ……..……..……..….a knot
to be this unevenness, this fraying and reweaving
to sound, to voice in this net of language
……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..which contains and overflows
……..……..……..……..……..……..multiples ….rubbings
……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..seepings between linguas
to be part of the pattern and also apart from the pattern
to be of a place yet not from the place
formed by the place yet not lang-rooted in the place
and then it becomes a fence a line of
……..……..……..……..….I&I&I&I&I&I&I&I&I&I&
a trap of dead wires like forgotten handwriting
……..……..……..live connections unreadable
……..……..……..……..……..……..where energy once ran
& here’s my eternal self
……..……..……..as bright plastic still gleaming
……..……..……..……..….only the casing left
a drifting tangle in the feet & guts of birds
or it’s a bridging
……..……..……..where who is holding what up which way
riveted in place
……..……..……..where nothing is a reflection of itself
on this side or that
……..……..……..and what could be more concrete than concrit concrète
……..……..……..……..……..……..than steel than dur its durability
concrescence
……..……..……..a growing together
……..……..……..……..……..……..……..made solid in a word
I go into the street ……..a sudden mass
I grow into the street ….a detail
……..……..……..……..……..……..interlaced a dis-
position
……..……..……..or blend of aggregates, sand & gravel
crushed rock bound together
……..……..moving as the slow shift of continents
pressed and pooled formed into a single mass
……..……..……..concretion as a bringing about
this is my tongue of steel
……..……..……..……..…..the one I stole
from the story pooling wind & voices & grass & marrow
from the wind ferrying yesterdays & space debris
……..……..……..……..……..……..….& the sickening odours of conflict
from the voice manifesting a rawness
……..……..……..……..….a scraping
……..……..……..……..……..……..a guttural release
from the grass full of fumbling and frenzy
……..….feeding and foraging
from the marrow collecting seepages of the living, of sap
……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..fluids, blood and plasma
……..……..……..……..……..corridors of decay and metamorphosis
de la parole avec ses mondes qui s’encerclent et s’entrecroisent
……..……..……..avec son potentiel et son obstruction
……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..l’effacement du potentiel
to be a resonant wind
……..……..……..….ripples of acoustics
to find ourselves trembling in trickles of sounds
……..……..……..……..….slivers of clarity
……..……..……..……..……..……..stuck on replay
throat caught in a stutter
……..….fragmentations of the vacuum
……..……..……..……..……..……..…navigations through the divergent phonemes
……..……..……..……..….of our adopted languages
street-hardened
……..……..enmeshed in the vocal scratchings of the alleyways
……..……..……..….the hieroglyphics & sedimentations & movement patterns of
all sonorous creatures in this land(sound)scape
to take up the sudden mass of the I
……..….which keeps spontaneously reassembling
……..……..……..in every moment, through every interaction
bound to the undergrowth, the humus, the quantum collision of syllabics
……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..yet also ahistorical
to submit to a rewiring
……………………retracement
……..……..……..……..……..réarticulation
……...the re– imperative
Comment
……..……..……..comment……..……..
in branched blood pulsing the same lines where I
……..…can’t stop
……..……..……..leaving and returning
in a leap from the fractal edges of
……..……..……..the here and now, whenever now was or will be
in the looping circuits of a voice
……..….that can’t speak for where it came from
in the ear full of air
in the air full of erring
in the erring full of error
crossed wires
Attend
……..……..……..attend
Histoire alambiquée
……..……..where vapour settles in breath between vessels
and the heaviness falls in water
……..……..a boiling ocean
……..……..……..….where the I I know is what sinks
or floats to the surface
……..……..in the débris of speech
……..……..in the wake of a ship
……..……..in the shimmer of oil
……..……..in wave and microparticle
……..……..in unequal exchange
……..……..caught at the border
dissemble
disassemble
repeat
Authors’ Bios
Oana Avasilichioaei (Tiohtià:ke/Montréal) interweaves poetry, sound, photography, and translation to explore an expanded idea of language, polyphonic structures, and borders of listening. Her six collections of poetry hybrids include Eight Track (Talonbooks, 2019, finalist A. M. Klein Prize and Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry) and Limbinal (Talonbooks, 2015). (www.oanalab.com)
Zoë Skoulding’s recent poetry collections are A Revolutionary Calendar (Shearsman) and Footnotes to Water (Seren Books), which won the Wales Book of the Year Poetry Award 2020. She is Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing at Bangor University in north Wales, and lives on the island of Anglesey.
