There was something about how it felt. Not just the during-
That rough churn of bulk and breath, limb and tooth, the mass of us,
The quickness we made and rode –But mostly the before.
The waiting , knowing what would become. Pang. Pleasure then pain.
Then the underwater ride or after. Thrown –off like a coat over a bridge.
Somehow you’d just give away what you’d die without. You just gave.
The best was having nothing. No hope. No name in the throat.
And finding the breath in you, the body, to ask.
Artwork
lilith, medusa and all the rest 2020
48 x 36 inches
oil on canvas
Rebecca Farr
Poem
At Some Point, They’ll Want to Know What it Was Like
Tracy K. Smith
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Artists and Poems: Los Angeles 2021
Curated by members of the Durden and Ray curatorial collective
Exhibition Team
Steven Wolkoff
Alexandra Wiesenfeld
Eugene Ahn
Artists
Nicole Belle, Gary Brewer, Gul Cagin, Joe Davidson, Mariquita “Micki” Davis, Danny Angel Escalante, Nancy Evans, Rebecca Farr, Leslie Foster, Christine Frerichs, Gajin Fujita, Iva Gueorguieva, Hasef, Mike Hazel, Regina Herod, Kiel Johnson, Aline Mare, Stephanie Mercado, Sandeep Mukherjee, Hung Viet Nguyen, Elizabeth Preger, Max Presneill, Bruce Richards, Colin Roberts, Karrie Ross, Orly Ruaimi, Debra Scacco, Sonja Schenk, Greg Schenk, Coleen Sterritt, Devon Tsuno, Rodrigo Valenzuela, Marnie Weber, Lisa Wedgeworth, Liat Yossifor, HK Zamani
About Artists and Poems: Los Angeles 2021