ICA collaboration
SMELL by Jared McDonald
chile paste
acrid eyeball-turning
sinus attack
inferno
sweating
brain escapes head
prickle-hair
gets in the cavity of your
skull
ex
plodesssssss
TASTE by Lauren Roberts
It tastes like neon
Anachronism
Tastes like paint and sweat and artifice
Bitter because of the clay
Salty because of the primal and prehistoric roots
Sweet because it’s been put on display
I can almost taste it, almost understand it
Maybe it’s a bit too avant-garde for my taste
My taste is paintings and Botticelli; this does not complement my taste
If I could only understand then maybe my
Taste buds could turn into a taste flower, bright neon flower
SIGHT by Lily Applebaum
Squint. Look away. Look back. Look away. Three-pronged shadows. Unfocused impression. Look away. Squint. Smudge marks, draggings, rubbing, pinching crests and ridges, shadows. Great depth unsaturated the vitality
SOUND by June Elgudin
clay bangs against your bruises
but all that’s left is
the sound of isolation.
the edges thick with concrete
the screams bounce off each other
and land flat in my palm
ready to take a stand-
silence
but the RED is weeping
the sobs are drenched in blood and we can’t stop it.
broken and tortured can you pick up the pieces?
three’s a crowd so give us some room
too many words splatter
and leave behind
the emptiness of this
hushed conversation.
Sssshhh…can you hear them?
TOUCH by Curtis Rogers
like so many things in life
DO NOT TOUCH
but so obviously touched
all over marked with fingers pushed under
and into the clay while it
was newly warm, almost burning
like so many things I know
DO NOT TOUCH
but I feel I could
reach right into one of the coiled
handles, wet, feeding into itself
and shuddering just so slowly
like a memorial to an open wound
DO NOT TOUCH
but probably for the best
knowing the damage to be done.
Hands, overcurious, again
causing edges to appear
like so many things,
DO NOT TOUCH
but it’s not the touch we’re afraid of
