Allen Chen & James Marks { Part 1 }

Three Times

        I.  

Returning, as ever, 
to body, speech, mind; 
centers of pleasure  
where ever I should find 
the time for leisure—-

I’ve found my stride
in the lostness of the life implied
by memory;
call it mind, but, imperceptibly,
override
the
impulse
to
identify—-

Filling our homes with possibilities
not our own
to be for some unknown
neighbors to our neighbors;
this has happened before,
and in before,
I find
(when I turn back
and forth)
the weight of what
my place is worth—-

That way in which my words work.

                II.

How is it? seeing what was once so near
as to be kept from sight—-
How is it? the face, the absent gaze
eyes fixed on mine—-
How is it? irony’s laments, blind the eyes
of this room.

                 III.

She paints others’ lives with lines or lies with other lies.
I recall as true what to her have become forgotten fictions.
Her words: the pleasure of the pain of teeth.
Bite-marks and questions whose answers are the sting they bring.
I still haven’t learned my lesson, and still I live with others’ lies
as if the lines that split their face in two
could mark more than that they live part-time
where light directly hit and where light only incidentally falls;
and the so-called empty spaces cry for being filled in
that are already filled in: with fictions, with longings meant
not for fulfilling but for feeling, and the empty gestures of the wind.

—-

Allen Chen is a Taiwnanese born New York based artist. He was originally trained as a biological scientist, and in 2010 he completed the full-tiime program at the International Center of Photography. He applies photography, video, and sculpture to investigate subjects in current and historic political events. His work has been shown at Dumbo Arts Festival, 25CPW gallery, and ICP education gallery. His work can be seen at {www.allenchenstudio.com}

James Marks studies Buddhist Philosophy (currently at Harvard Divinity School), and is interested in the relation between thought and intimacy.  James doesn’t own a TV, but manages to watch a lot of TV.  He writes songs, poems, stories, and essays, the latter mostly academic.  He writes reflections on this-and-that at {www.jqmarks.com}

—-

Words with Pictures is a weekly two-part post that pairs photographers and writers. The first week, a writer is given a photograph to inspire the creation of a new piece of writing. The following week the photographer is given a piece of writing and responds with a new photographic piece. This series is curated by Conveyor Magazine Editor Dominica Paige.