Saturday scrim progress: today I watch honeycomb, fish scales, cell structures, and water droplets appear in the fabric. My brain is still woozy from yesterday’s migraine, so I am going slow, taking deep breaths and pausing to steady myself when the pattern begins to blur. // In other news, have you listened to fellow #qstage2019 artist @doitlikedua / Dua Saleh’s awesome new track Warm Pants yet? Go get it on spotify or Dua’s profile 🔥🔥🔥// Image description: 30-second video with no sound of D.’s hands while knitting a large off-white textile project. The project uses thin wool yarn on large circular knitting needles to produce an openwork pattern. Cabinets and artwork are visible in the background. // #knittingandlistening #multidisciplinaryartist #disabilitypoetics #knittingiswritingisknitting #queerpoet #newwork #slowprogress
I knit a few lines between computer work sessions to try and fulfill a promise to my work and to my body, which often feel like the same thing. I will always—or always try—to come back. Sometimes I am gone for a long time. This slow textile project, to be used in a performance next May, is a way of reckoning with sustained wordlessness. // Today’s work is fueled by physical and emotional support from other textiles: on my head, the orange knit hat my twin brother gave me over a decade ago, which I keep patching and wearing threadbare again; on the wall behind me, the multicolored, collaborative pocket quilt I made in college with embroidered contributions by my community; over my shoulders, the small pink and blue cotton quilt patterned with tiny hearts and scottie dogs that my mom made for me when I was little; on my torso, a (now sleeveless) white Transformers t-shirt with red and blue lettering that I found in a free box in my early twenties, which has seen many, many lives and feels like soft armor; in my hands and draped over my lap, a large off-white knitting project takes shape in an openwork mesh pattern, using thin wool yarn on large needles. In the photo I am wearing glasses and looking down at the knitting in my hands, propped up against pillows with the headboard partially visible behind me. // #artistsnavigatingchronicillness #newwork #queerartist #nonbinaryartist #poeticresearch #lyricessayincode #knittingiswritingisknitting #artistswitheds #disabilitypoetics #multidisciplinarypoetics
It was a delight to read yesterday with @the_operating_system pressmate blake nemec (@b_routed) and the ever-wonderful Maitreyi Ray. Please go buy blake’s book, Sharing Plastic, and check out Maitreyi’s poems and other works on the internet or around the Twin Cities. // I read some new work about ghosts and a few long pieces from my forthcoming book, which you can preorder through the link in my bio. I also rekindled my practice of sharing a poem by a writer I admire, and this time it was “Conviction” from Jillian Weise’s The Amputee’s Guide to Sex (thank you for the gift that is this book, @tipsytullivan). // Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen and who came to share space with us. Creative community is keeping me afloat these days—connecting and celebrating each other is so vital. [ID: 1. Photo of D. sitting on a stool and reading from a manuscript into a mic. They have yellow pants, a a black button-down, short hair and glasses. 2. blake, D., and Maitreyi are smiling and standing together in a restaurant after the reading. 3. Jillian Weise’s book The Amputee’s Guide to Sex lies on a multicolored cloth background. It has a pale pink cover.] First pic by @radwayfaring. #theoperatingsystem #moonpalacebooks #blakenemec #sharingplastic #maitreyiray #poeteyreading #multidisciplinarypoets #queerpoets #disabilitypoetics #embodiedpoetics
There are still a few hours left in #givetothemaxday so if you’re able to contribute a little or a lot, I shared a few of my favorite local organizations in my stories. I especially want to highlight my beloved @20percenttheatretc —thank you for supporting (and paying!) local artists, and connecting people through meaningful performance work. I have benefited so much from the 20% community as an audience member, writer, performer, and human. 20% is a living organism and has connected me with so many people I love and admire. It has also directly supported my development as an artist. Photo is of me back in March, seated on a stage holding my cane, with a backdrop of rainbow-lit curtains. That day I got to perform my poem “Body : Language: Jungle,” from the 2016 Naked I: Self-Defined, at the Rainbow Health Initiative Opportunity Conference alongside a few other 20% artists. And this past weekend I got to experience 20%’s phenomenal production of #waafrika123 which will stay with me forever. Help keep our arts community vibrant by contributing what you can, and help spread the word! 📷: @chelenea81 #gtmd18
