19.11.22

Five Poems by Damon Hubbs

Beauty Colony


argo in red shirt sails / pants, cargo / there is 

a before & an after / in two 

five day 

     bURSTS 

called the white witch


& with a new life contr[act] the badge 

with demeaning nickname is removed 

     Mom’s for Liberty

                                 Daughter’s of the Revolution

the “work,”  an indoctrination 


each trainee 

dresses a fantasy version 

     of themselves & 

carries the room in death / 

rebirth exhibit


in wilderness

the point of the spear

is 

     the sp[ear]

             

recruiting an audience.



Crooked Silo


unknowingly the mole admires stalactite cathedrals


dimples, freckles 

         of field, 

buckle and folds of the basal layer 

loops / whorls / arches 

     the landscape bodymapped 

in Muller glia


the monolithic stare of cows / melanoblasts


underland 

there are platforms 

     & pyramids 

linked by complex 

causeways


cavefish have lost sight of their eyes 


a rotunda of stone 

     cut / out of a buried river 

& filled 


black dune grains sheltering in vein time 


force sensor / discharge valve / flow patterns 

     of katabasis

 

winched into the abyss

     we climb the crooked silo, feeding the rat. 



Norway


The submarine is five meters underwater. 

The water has been here since the day 


trolls mixed ochre with cod liver 

to paint their caves red  


a poor substitute for the sun

or a Danish designed PH5 pendant lamp. 


The submarine is now a restaurant 

and a 1.5 hr scenic drive from Kristiansand


when guests arrive in scuba gear

waiters & sommeliers / cooks & interns

say hello with great warmth & hospitality


no one mentions the masks & snorkels, the BCDs

the 18-course immersion menu features pure, naked flavors



state of the art


the day is generative, metallic blue and fed with seasonal congratulations. after. the. tight. and. docile journey. in which a network of databases containing centuries of landscape and portraits are rendered into the wet black surface of their eyes, the Guernsey Jersey Brown Swiss and Red and White grand champions of the greater tri-state region arrive at the livestock pavilion and are herded into the Grange Hall of the State Fair. The official 4-H beef enrollment forms are signed, weigh-in information is recorded and bedding fees paid. Competitive livestock are drug tested in accordance with the Livestock Premium Book, Section 3. 


all entries are submitted on disposable plates: muffins, cookies, one and two crust pies, quick breads, yeast breads, breakfast rolls, hula hoop-wide whoopie pies, meringue swans on pink-fondant plinths with matching fondant flowers, industrial-sized butter sculptures of hands, mouths and ears, cream-swollen confections tipped with trompe-l’oeil cherries —implying a complete universe, the hermetic sensibility and formal clarity of baked goods extends beyond their material bounds. 


later, in the Fine Arts Competition, a picture made by an algorithm wins a blue ribbon. First prize $300. Every ingredient must be listed in exact measurements and the type of in[gre]di[e]nt must be specifie[d]


next slide, please.



lazy river


the lazy river 

loves to laugh 

at how lazy 

we are,

traveling without seeing 

only half-

submerged

we pile in 

& out 

change bathing suits 

rent rafts & rubber rings 

tuck into hotels 

new weather 

just like the old,

thinking all the while 

that we are peeling an orange 

in a single fluid gesture.

 

 

Damon Hubbs