from "An Instance"
after Robert Smithson
For me, this is use
a very form
we didn't think
where flying
on the ground
walking through ground
in the earth
as an object
or proposal
…
For instance, an abstract
container
opening to a well-lit room
where we can leave traces
consider
other people's work
a place where all this mattered
...
I'm not interested
in value
as a medium
very far away
you probably
don't work with
limitations
what you do depends
like a fact
on the side facing
artificial light
…
if this direction
you can' t say it implies
in a sense is a mirror
trouble with
the way
what you'll always have
and will
somehow blend
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Author Bio: Dan Machlin‘s books and chapbooks include Dear Body: (Ugly Duckling Presse), 6×7 (Ugly Duckling), This Side Facing You (Heart Hammer) and In Rem (@ Press). His poems have appeared in The Recluse, BOMB, The Brooklyn Rail, Fence, Veritas, Figuring Color (ICA Boston) and are forthcoming in The Tiny. He was a recent Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace writing fellow and has received grants from CLMP/Jerome Foundation and Fund for Poetry. He is the Founder and Executive Editor of Futurepoem books.