A cure for the treading mind:
Allow the bath water to drain around you
Escaping your shivering body
Heavy
And pleasantly timeless
It does the work
Which is to say it flushes
Is to say gravity
It does the work
The weight
The heave
And the air
Pushing
A slow dance in thuds
A song of praise
Slipping from your pocket as
Cold feet search the bed
Have you ever
Run so hard
That you started to fly?
(I did on Tuesday for one beat of the heart)
One beat, one beat, one beat of the
Rhythm keeper
What do you do for a living?
Are you afraid of heights?
What time on Thursday does the garbageman pass by?
Is your mind still whirring when the morning chorus begins?
Rumble on cobble slides
dih-dit-dih-dit-dih-dih
and a third person
going dun dun dun dun
Your breath, the thump climax
Who makes your heart beat?
For one beat of the
The work
And when it stops
Dust
- The original title of this work is The Rhythm Keeper (after Baraka)
- Written and performed on the occasion of Viviana Ableson’s exhibition GRAVITY at HaL Hofskulptur #5, Haus Am Lützowplatz, Berlin, 25 July – 25 October 2020