Number 36: If A Child Set the World On Fire Would They Do It Like This Or Like This

Upstairs

Edwin Bethea, Raque Ford, Cody Goebl, Dance Lawyer, Vijay Masharani, Liv Mendez, Carlos Reyes, Margaret Roman, Audrey Ryan, Matthew Tully Dugan, Aine Vonnegut

Presented by Museum Gallery, Brooklyn

Things are, wrong here,

Or at least different now, space seems different now.

Time feels heavier somehow and it’s leaning on its siamese twin,

I can tell, they’re hurting

Seeing these two titans so distraught makes you wince

Like watching your dad trip on the sidewalk

Something comforts you about it though

But then we’re back to where we were

And seeing something so bossy and rigid

Unpacked and floating

Makes its power all the more crushing now

I can’t compete

A curiosity sits in the center of the room.

Multiple bodies converge around it,

Protecting, but also coveting.

Their movements are understood there is no need for messy communication.

A fish is caught out of the corner of your eye, then so are you.

A familiar rabbit rests nearby

They haven’t aged as well as you

A vessel filled with nothing showers

New York’s finest, celebrities.

Chains dance in the sky above your head

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight, going up

We press all the buttons on this elevator,

Put a tag on air

And keep looking up.

If I stand right there, I can hear God I swear.

He can’t hear me,

But I can hear him.

A world in a can

A soul stuck in a solid place.