For some of them, I taped the original dating manual images, which I'd kissed, onto sketch book pages. But I also used words from my dream archive to make phrases that kind of corresponded to that imagery (the palette was influenced by the imagery as well). I wrote out certain dreams (in marker, pen, or pencil, on black, white, or brown paper), tore up the words, then taped the words in their new configurations onto the background paper (black photo backdrop paper stretched over pieces of cardboard, tracing paper stained with red acrylic, glued onto pieces of cardboard, white sketchbook pages).
I presented them in class like this:
The comment that most stood out was someone likening the aesthetic to ransom notes (which I liked).
Here they all are, in no particular order:
DON'T SIT IN AWKWARD POSITIONS--and never look bored, even if you are. Be alert, and if you must chew gum (not advised), do it silently, mouth closed
none who had appeared ready were
should I go/ obviously/ go Finish being
His eyes/ manipulating still/ despite reluctant hands
smiling disgust/ she sips her own drink
again Is staring/ truth Follows her/ Finally Enters deep
it rolls over You Quickly/ I Continue to help silently
"So have it"/ it was in her mouth
she wants more
somehow/ you see now/ and I feel good
just admit it/ drift
DON'T BE FAMILIAR with the headwaiter talking about the fun you had with someone else another time. Men deserve, desire your entire attention
sorry! fucking her is profoundly better
pressing pathetically/ crying involuntarily/ face twisted in/ between
nodding at the swirls of weirdness
a moment of pretending to shake/ From blood or expression
should I still fuck him/ he considers me sadly/ attempting to believe/ resist the urge/ go do Nothing instead
guess what/ teeth/ eager gesture
his supposed planning folds/ punching urgently
in Gazing scenarios/ we/ loses to/ him against her/ They stared at them/ a plastic attention don't/ of wonders
You have people/ I'm resignedly disappointed
"Do you want me/ what a question/ no/ just no
CARELESS WOMEN never appeal to gentlemen. Don't talk while dancing, for when a man dances he wants to dance Page 30
their dream fell to me/ I kept working
my notion of you included the idea of us
the observer looked on/ examining/ trying to understand
capable of jealousy and panic
at least broken/ you wanted to fix me
next stop/ progress
let go of my sense of me
respect the strength and power behind my position
forget about his gaze/ we all gaze together
trying to get disoriented listening to wet little phrases
to think of me As a delicate tender vulnerable young thing Is to be wrong
I whispered intensely/ my sheer ferocity ignored once noticed
evil objects/ too crazy and confused to attract us
system crash
intruder with his urgent because
ourselves within we
he hated himself/ so I loved him.
I drove away the one I coveted.
I wasn't really thinking too hard about what I was doing when I made these, but what feels significant about them now, in relation to the Anagram things is the fact that I was technically using my own words, rather than someone else's, as the starting point for the phrases. Granted, they were words taken out of context and reconfigured into a new context. I've been feeling a little insecure about the possibility that starting with a pre-created phrase might be some kind of crutch. But I guess it doesn't have to be...I mean, I am turning someone else's words into my own words, and the whole deconstructing/ rebuilding process is a large part of what the Anagram things are about right now anyway. I guess mainly what's important/ what made me want to post these is the fact that this interest in words isn't actually so new, and these phrases that I made months ago have a similar voice behind them, which is...good, I think? I suppose only time will tell...
