(with language from Ilya Kabakov and Alice Notley)
Ideas for a soft architecture:
1. Pull the loose insulation from the seams.
2. Lift the door back onto its hinges.
3. Drain the courtyard puddle.
4. Pull at loose wires.
5. This may be a school.
6. You may be a teacher.
Revised, soft archive:
How to smooth hair.
Sweaters to avoid.
Sweaters I can afford.
Wrinkles to prevent.
Who dyes their hair?
The polyester content.
Cut my clothes into strips.
Use as warp and weft.
*
Notes for "The Big Archive":
Wood, steel, sheetrock,
3 rooms, 3 corridors,
string, desks, metal chairs,
notices, boxes, official forms.
"The Big Archive, Version 2":
All documents hang from the ceiling just out of reach.
"The Toilet":
Stone, cement, wood,
women's room, porcelain fixtures,
household objects, hangers,
glass jars, white lace.
"A Room Taking off in Flight":
Wood, steel, fabric construction,
spiral staircase, partitioned rooms,
school furniture, texts, gaping hole,
a second gaping hole, a third.
*
Notes for "Line of Flight":
After accusations, in total despair,
having opened the balcony door,
the woman steps out near dawn
to get some fresh air.
Suddenly, she sees that in the sky,
which is beginning to lighten,
there are people hovering in the air.
Either they descend down near the ground
or they rise up high, so high
they almost become invisible;
they either fly alone
or in pairs or in groups, or, clasping hands,
they form rings, which slowly revolve.
Hovering between them
are things of their everyday existence.
The woman sees another woman she knows, flying,
and waves her arms then pushes off
and tries to take off flying after her.
*
Possible drawings. Tuesday 10:21 am:
1. The Man Who Collected the Opinions of Others.
2. The Man Who Flew into Space from His Apartment.
3. The Short Man.
4. The Composer.
5. The Collector.
6. The Man Who Described His Life through Other People.
7. The Man Who Never Threw Anything Away.
Alternates:
The woman who, being tasted.
The woman who, only her legs.
Her gray-lined skull.
Her lucky little owl.
Beautiful retina, her grievance.
Beautiful blur, her protest.
Relief map drawn in the night.
