Five Excerpts from Screens

Chris Tysh

Keys to the Coop

Mid-run
riff on paper cutout
colored black like lacy
boots under flying skirt
impossible not to give her
that ravenous mouth;
language of a place—
factographic—twirling key
in left hand bumps against
quondam irons accursed fate

Kara Walker. Keys to the Coop, 1997. Linoleum block print (Edition: 31/40),
46 1/4 x 60 1/2 in. Cranbrook Art Museum, Michigan.

Grand bal de nuit

As if
a peal of thunder tore a wall
sending dancers aux quatre vents
their lines and circles flattened
fifths called devil’s note one plays
to hold that erotic shudder down
their spine a sliver longer before
night’s black sail rustles on

Natalia Goncharova, Grand bal de nuit / Salle Bullier grand bal des artistes, 1926.  Lithograph, 47 1/4 x 28 7/8 in. The Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Dress

Also
known for a pleated book
I’d give the shirt off my back
to just glide along its spine
from Moscow to Lake Baikal
and shake loose the color
washes that now run tinged
with lyric blue and green
stripes like a mandarin gown
Maggie Cheung might wear
In the Mood for Love

Sonia Delaunay, Dress, 1925–28. Printed silk satin with metallic embroidery. Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris.

Object: Breakfast in Fur

Imagine
a dress of sparks
whose seam runs down
her back inside out like
a rainspout collecting all
men’s eyes— scopic
frisson sweeping Café Flore
while slowly gloves off
she brings the furry spoon
to meet her tongue

Meret Oppenheim, Object, 1936. Fur-covered cup, saucer, and spoon; cup 4 3/8 inches in diameter, saucer 9 3/8 inches in diameter, spoon 8 inches long, overall height 2 7/8 inches. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Kitchen Table Series

Staged
like a scherzo
piano four-hands
the work echoes its law
of doubles:  a permanent
rehearsal steeped in turning
your face to the mirror—
mimetic—she enters the frame
lipstick angled just so

Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled, from The Kitchen Table Series, 1990–2010. Silver gelatin print. 10 x 9 3/4 in. The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.