STAY THIS MOMENT: THE AUTOPSY LYRICS, ACTS 1 & 2 by Emily Carr

STAY THIS MOMENT: THE AUTOPSY LYRICS, ACTS 1 & 2

STAY THIS MOMENT: THE AUTOPSY LYRICS, ACTS 1 & 2

Š Emily Carr 2013

LRL

little red leaves textile editions www.littleredleaves.com

Š Emily Carr 2013

LRL

little red leaves textile editions www.littleredleaves.com

STAY THIS MOMENT:

THE AUTOPSY LYRICS, ACTS 1 & 2 Emily Carr

little red leaves textile series 2013

STAY THIS MOMENT:

THE AUTOPSY LYRICS, ACTS 1 & 2 Emily Carr

little red leaves textile series 2013

Act 1 VERY LIKE A WHALE

[2]

Act 1 VERY LIKE A WHALE

[2]

in which it is summer & we are on the illusion of vacation

[3]

in which it is summer & we are on the illusion of vacation

[3]

WHEN Achilles traced a heart in the dirt that is my bed.

I work just fine.

[4]

[4]

WHEN Achilles traced a heart in the dirt that is my bed.

I work just fine.

I dont want the Devil says to say that much about la Belle you all know her in different ways—

ITS a purple dream with a sea to match it. Or a Christian maze which as you know has no dead ends.

[5]

[5]

I dont want the Devil says to say that much about la Belle you all know her in different ways—

ITS a purple dream with a sea to match it. Or a Christian maze which as you know has no dead ends.

WHAT are you sorry about wheres your trumpet & your tiny saint what are things like underneath

what you say they are

[6]

WHAT are you sorry about wheres your trumpet & your tiny saint what are things like underneath

what you say they are

[6]

IN the story I tell myself at 3 or 4 in the morning there are three people & none of us have histories.

Where is the logic there.

You might ask that. I never would, not anymore.

[7]

IN the story I tell myself at 3 or 4 in the morning there are three people & none of us have histories.

Where is the logic there.

You might ask that. I never would, not anymore.

[7]

AS you wish la Belle says & sans merci draws: a dramatic silhouette of a dead frog, a liver which has been distorted by corsets to become shaped like a figure eight, beautiful boys playing in the edges of an Italian composition.

[8]

[8]

AS you wish la Belle says & sans merci draws: a dramatic silhouette of a dead frog, a liver which has been distorted by corsets to become shaped like a figure eight, beautiful boys playing in the edges of an Italian composition.

(GOOD morning, call, I follow, I follow let me die because it isnt the first time I’ve had four parts of a mind.)

[9]

[9]

(GOOD morning, call, I follow, I follow let me die because it isnt the first time I’ve had four parts of a mind.)

ACHILLES wants to get drunk, dance, drive around, fuck. Against the full moon belly he moves his toes, his teeth.

I shall Achilles says have my music for nothing—

However it began it ended like that: Achilles vows to be different, & never at the mercy of a woman.

[10]

ACHILLES wants to get drunk, dance, drive around, fuck. Against the full moon belly he moves his toes, his teeth.

I shall Achilles says have my music for nothing—

However it began it ended like that: Achilles vows to be different, & never at the mercy of a woman.

[10]

Who she says are you anyway. What do you want to be

NEVERMIND what we still have in common is we used to be our best selves which is why la Belle hugs an imposing mannequin. Believes a couple of trees by the filling station.

Show a lot of leg she says & leave life smooth— [11]

[11]

Who she says are you anyway. What do you want to be

NEVERMIND what we still have in common is we used to be our best selves which is why la Belle hugs an imposing mannequin. Believes a couple of trees by the filling station.

Show a lot of leg she says & leave life smooth—

[1 2]

it begins.You just dont care.

it up. Presumably you know exactly how the affair will end from the moment

BUT if you were honest or would at least bump into the limits of your honesty you know you should give

[1 2]

it begins.You just dont care.

it up. Presumably you know exactly how the affair will end from the moment

BUT if you were honest or would at least bump into the limits of your honesty you know you should give

DONT the Devil says be afraid; the song of our sin is so pure we can drink it. There the Devil says it is.

Everything the Devil says goes.

Achilles is working very hard at not thinking about how everything goes.

[13]

DONT the Devil says be afraid; the song of our sin is so pure we can drink it. There the Devil says it is.

Everything the Devil says goes.

Achilles is working very hard at not thinking about how everything goes.

[13]

My dress extinguishes me. August opens its bright palm & sans merci she pushes her stroller out of it

THE girl with the beautiful eyes comes, the girl with the beautiful eyes goes.

[14]

[14]

My dress extinguishes me. August opens its bright palm & sans merci she pushes her stroller out of it

THE girl with the beautiful eyes comes, the girl with the beautiful eyes goes.

[15]

on the third day there is no before & no after no pain done unto others & none paradoxically done unto myself—

folds away the voices— me too—I forgive you—thank you

IN which I am left thinking about my stomach— in which a small gold eternally gasping fawn & the instantaneous sunset lovely on a white pickup [15]

on the third day there is no before & no after no pain done unto others & none paradoxically done unto myself—

folds away the voices— me too—I forgive you—thank you

IN which I am left thinking about my stomach— in which a small gold eternally gasping fawn & the instantaneous sunset lovely on a white pickup

WE thought of our souls whenever we fucked because that is when we saw them, our souls. Blue or was it orange—they were tethered, like a balloon, somewhere just below the sun flipping its skin

[16]

WE thought of our souls whenever we fucked because that is when we saw them, our souls. Blue or was it orange—they were tethered, like a balloon, somewhere just below the sun flipping its skin

[16]

[17]

[17]

Act 2 THE HAIR, THE GOLF & THE CANARY

[18]

Act 2 THE HAIR, THE GOLF & THE CANARY

[18]

in which Achilles imagines he has answered the question simply by raising it...

[19]

in which Achilles imagines he has answered the question simply by raising it...

[19]

IT is the most extraordinary substitution: sans Merci la Belle Dame draws a ship too late to save the drowning witch.

[20]

[20]

IT is the most extraordinary substitution: sans Merci la Belle Dame draws a ship too late to save the drowning witch.

THE DEVIL says look. No Bird says see. The Devil says guesswho.

The worldover.

The part that loved, the part that was mortal—is already dead.

[21]

THE DEVIL says look. No Bird says see. The Devil says guesswho.

The worldover.

The part that loved, the part that was mortal—is already dead.

[21]

of the beautiful filmstrip of your sins (which is why it is the Ides of August & the impeccable lions they dont weep

& SOON, something more terrible, something more true a beautiful girl whose feathers are obscured by the fall

[22]

[22]

of the beautiful filmstrip of your sins (which is why it is the Ides of August & the impeccable lions they dont weep

& SOON, something more terrible, something more true a beautiful girl whose feathers are obscured by the fall

FAIL Achilles says I cant. Fail Achilles says I never.

[23]

FAIL Achilles says I cant. Fail Achilles says I never.

[23]

WHEN the God was some unknown bright boy who clearly knew a hawk his method of knowing goes something like this fuck it

[24]

[24]

WHEN the God was some unknown bright boy who clearly knew a hawk his method of knowing goes something like this fuck it

THIS is his/tory.You are the final hope of Greece.You are rapidly becoming the brightest object in the hot sky. What do you hear. What do you hear & see in the Sunday watercolour. Four tornup blackbirds & in this evolution let me tell you about mercy—

[25]

THIS is his/tory.You are the final hope of Greece.You are rapidly becoming the brightest object in the hot sky. What do you hear. What do you hear & see in the Sunday watercolour. Four tornup blackbirds & in this evolution let me tell you about mercy—

[25]

IT begins like this I/ didnt intend: the wrecked moon hauling in another Friday night on the TV screen la Belle Dame in a white dress on a gorgeous BMW motorbike expressionless around your torso like a makeshift cross your cock straining to forget the blue yolk between her thighs her immaculate breasts she is there to be had [26]

[26]

IT begins like this I/ didnt intend: the wrecked moon hauling in another Friday night on the TV screen la Belle Dame in a white dress on a gorgeous BMW motorbike expressionless around your torso like a makeshift cross your cock straining to forget the blue yolk between her thighs her immaculate breasts she is there to be had

(Singing as they die, & feathers.) I dont believe in anything but he says I’m sure I’ve sinned.

LOVESICK with a mouthful of chicken bones Achilles sits crosslegged with a murder.

[27]

[27]

(Singing as they die, & feathers.) I dont believe in anything but he says I’m sure I’ve sinned.

LOVESICK with a mouthful of chicken bones Achilles sits crosslegged with a murder.

LETS say la Belle—who with the tenderness of volcanoes will be the heart of so many men —slaughters herself in the sheets.

The rented God flounders, in all directions/ away from yourself—

[28]

LETS say la Belle—who with the tenderness of volcanoes will be the heart of so many men —slaughters herself in the sheets.

The rented God flounders, in all directions/ away from yourself—

[28]

I work the guilt in: hard then soft until my heart it flips like a tiger: who the hell she is & where/ are you.

[29]

[29]

I work the guilt in: hard then soft until my heart it flips like a tiger: who the hell she is & where/ are you.

NOW its a new day, 2 codas & a diamond certificate full of promises he/ cant keep or is choosing not to be able there is No Bird in the theatrical sky despite its bruises you stand on four legs, with the words or blonde screams falling down around your ankles

[30]

NOW its a new day, 2 codas & a diamond certificate full of promises he/ cant keep or is choosing not to be able there is No Bird in the theatrical sky despite its bruises you stand on four legs, with the words or blonde screams falling down around your ankles

[30]

[31]

where the whole of it/ comes right Like a knife that bears the two of them across the sea: every love affair has its tense, it must take place in time.

Yet there are ways to elide these laws...

Like a knife that bears the two of them across the sea: every love affair has its tense, it must take place in time.

Yet there are ways to elide these laws...

(side by side) (a lioness amongst the cornstalks) (the lubricated moon, it shines so...

THERE must be some world where it doesnt happen like/ this. There must be some world (sidelong)

where the whole of it/ comes right

(side by side) (a lioness amongst the cornstalks) (the lubricated moon, it shines so...

THERE must be some world where it doesnt happen like/ this. There must be some world (sidelong)

[31]

SOMETIMES Achilles he caught the knife edge of it.

A No Bird that had disappeared down the long slide of her throat that sans Merci she had madly swallowed to spare him, & he would stare at her. Who are she says anyway what do you want to be

[32]

SOMETIMES Achilles he caught the knife edge of it.

A No Bird that had disappeared down the long slide of her throat that sans Merci she had madly swallowed to spare him, & he would stare at her. Who are she says anyway what do you want to be

[32]

Emily is passionate about artist books, the rediscovery of Mississippi poet besmilr brigham, the sexual politics of meat, the limits of Achilles’ honesty & the problem of Chaucer’s spring, unposted love letters, cannibal chickens & a ship too late to save the drowning witch. She is also the author of two books of poetry, directions for flying (Furniture Press 2010) & 13 Ways of Happily: Books 1 & 2 (Parlor Press 2011), & some very handsome chapbooks from horseless press, Little Red Leaves, and dancing girl.

This little red leaves textile series chapbook was designed and sewn by Dawn Pendergast in Houston, Texas.

Emily is passionate about artist books, the rediscovery of Mississippi poet besmilr brigham, the sexual politics of meat, the limits of Achilles’ honesty & the problem of Chaucer’s spring, unposted love letters, cannibal chickens & a ship too late to save the drowning witch. She is also the author of two books of poetry, directions for flying (Furniture Press 2010) & 13 Ways of Happily: Books 1 & 2 (Parlor Press 2011), & some very handsome chapbooks from horseless press, Little Red Leaves, and dancing girl.

This little red leaves textile series chapbook was designed and sewn by Dawn Pendergast in Houston, Texas.