David Miller


Out-takes

























1.




implied:
an eye 

at a

dismemberment
of a woman

in lamplight
a lamp

she still holds

shown:
the bachelors

shown:
the bride

shown:
the chocolate mill

(sperm)

elsewhere shown:
(by others)

the razor across the eye



















or an eye
peeps

through the hole

not content
with the urinal

or the bottle-rack

or 
the Mona Lisa

with moustache
& caption

& yet the retinal
denigrated


































or else Robert Smithson
ʼs

spiral
jetty


as 
an alternative











































2.



did Duchamp
ever discard

discs of ice
from bird baths?

did Gertrude Stein
ever talk to the mechanics

who fixed her car
while she wrote

regardless
of the noise?



































the ego is always there
in everything

except when it isn’t















































Picasso was leading the way
while others were following

& Americans
were being made

or one American 














































3.


Jesus of Nazareth
raised the dead

Apollonius of Tyana
raised the dead

– a climate of miracles










































4.


rescued
from a diving suit...

with a silly
moustache

outlandish
at least

& much money...

he’d found his way
through painted landscapes

of burning giraffes
& melting watches

& Mae West’s lips
as a sofa

to Hollywood
&

to Andy Warhol’s
glamour

factory

& Jesus of Nazareth
suspended in space

without nails

& a woman’s eye
still slit













5.

poetry isn’t painting
poetry isn’t music

nor is painting poetry
nor is it music

nor music
poetry or painting

nor is poetry… is it
anthropology?

no nor religion

yet each might learn
from each other

possibly
in some instances

but not become the other





























Gertrude following Pablo
writing following painting

& protected by the Vichy government
nothing seemed to ruffle her 

huge & haughty 
& self-content

in her genius

snow blind

David Miller was born in Melbourne, Australia, but has lived in the UK for many years. His recent publications include Black, Grey and White: A Book of Visual Sonnets (Veer Books, 2011), Reassembling Still: Collected Poems (Shearsman, 2014), Spiritual Letters (Contraband Books, 2017), Towards a Menagerie (Chax Press, 2019), Matrix I & II (Guillemot Press, 2020) and Vitruvian Shadows (The Red Ceilings Press, 2020). He has compiled British Poetry Magazines 1914-2000: A History and Bibliography of ‘Little Magazines’ (with Richard Price, The British Library / Oak Knoll Press, 2006) and edited The Lariat and Other Writings by Jaime de Angulo (Counterpoint, 2009) and The Alchemist’s Mind: a book of narrative prose by poets (Reality Street, 2012). He is also a musician and a member of the Frog Peak Music collective, and has performed and recorded as part of The Mind Shop and with Louise Landes Levi, Ken White, Rod Boucher and others. Previous books and chapbooks have appeared from Enitharmon, Gaberbocchus, Arc, Stride, Reality Street, Burning Deck, Singing Horse, Chax, hawkhaven and Harbor Mountain.

 
 

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