The Brooklyn Rail

JUL-AUG 2022

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JUL-AUG 2022 Issue
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John Yau and Mie Yim

Song for Mie Yim

Mie Yim, <em>Rorschach</em>, 2021. 70 x 60 in. Courtesy the artist
Mie Yim, Rorschach, 2021. 70 x 60 in. Courtesy the artist

This morning they released my head

from the closet where the university

stores last century’s computers

lesson books proven wrong

I am told I have become a gas station

in a city powered by electric cars

an overdue library card


You are born

        shoulders

                tears

                        clocks


You learn different ways

you are unnecessary


You don’t need to memorize them


I have told my head

is being moved

to a better location

being introduced into

warm, welcoming environs


I can sing

as much

as I want


I have been told

this is what

it was like for poets

in an earlier time


Now it is different

I am told

Now it is better

Contributors

John Yau

John Yau has three books that have landed or will soon land on earth: Joe Brainard: The Art of the Personal (Rizzoli, 2022); Tell It Slant (Omnidawn, 2023); John Pai: Liquid Steel (Rizzoli (2023). An exhibition, Disguise the Limit: John Yau’s Collaborations, will open at art museum of the University of Kentucky in Lexington in January 2024, curated by Stuart Horodner.

Mie Yim

Mie Yim is an artist.

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The Brooklyn Rail

JUL-AUG 2022

All Issues