Jazmine Linklater
Untitled (Siluetas)
In which woman is a shape
as if shape is a constant
that is and is not circle
should/should not be O
O consents to everything
O is very happy
Consent as liquid
semi-state body, they blame you
for all things in which you are
a lived experience/in which you are not
O lie down, A lie down, B lie down, I lie
down, O lies down, A lies down, B lies down
Light later, factory windows flame
sun sets inside~out
and in this new light I fold
over my self’s befores: unremarkable
dark there, locked doors locking
every day. Bountiful arguments
for belief, in equal profusion against it
Forgive me, Father, for I have
I lay down
I sought glamour in objects
my house is clad in mirrors
I cannot hear this. Try to
understand: I cannot hear this
O is active in seduction
O is active in passivity
It’s the longing and mystery
in photographs, our texts
drenched at first glance
rivulet limbs wrung
into right angles, written
re-written all the time:
evaporate/condense
become mercury become silver
become begun, begin again
She is collapsing to her knees
then to her side in a sovereign position
In discarding her will
she becomes mist
perfection transcends personality
cirrus, cirrocumulus, cirrostratus
Ascetic, O is whole
I deliquesce, press out
these voices from the inmost parts:
I want to lie down in the place I am from
in which O is a constant
as if what’s constant is a shape
that is and is not circle
could/could not be
Notes: “Bountiful arguments / for belief, in equal profusion against it,” Karen Solie, “An Abundance”; “We press out these voices / from the inmost parts,” Lisa Robertson, “The Seam”; “Body, they blame you for all things,” Ilya Kaminsky, “Firing Squad”; lines in italics borrowed from Bhanu Kapil, Ban en Banlieue, (New York: Nightboat Books, 2015); title borrowed from artworks by Ana Mendieta.