Poetry

Not Only But Then is a handbook by Claus Haxholm that explores the temporal boundaries of body and space. While not focusing on any specific body or room, it offers instructions-like snippets that encourage readers to engage in body movements or manipulations within a given space.

Mary Oliver: Morning Poem

Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange

sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again

and fasten themselves to the high branches–
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands

of summer lilies.
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it

the thorn
that is heavier than lead–
if it’s all you can do
to keep on trudging–

there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted–

each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,

whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.

Funeral inspo. But also life inspiration. Hold space for inconveniences. Show up raw. Give space to the ugly versions of you so they can live and die.

The original poem this piece is built on is called ‘Tract’ - written by William Carlos William (whose work was a muse for the film Paterson).

Emily Dickinson strikes

Poem on Play by one of the goats.