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Basketcase 2
it started with sharp pencils and I got no joy from that/ so then
I tried a needle but that was no good, pin pricks/ and didn’t go
deep enough dots not lines I needed lines/ so then went on to
compass but I couldn’t drag it across,
you see, it could only dig and I didn’t want to dig I wanted/ to
cut across, in
long fluid lines, I wanted to create lines, etch them in, cross
hatch them/ and make them flow, I wanted to see the blood bubble
out I wanted the line of grey to turn red and then finally white/
rosered rosewhite mirror mirror the shoe never fit/ I wanted to
raise my shirt and press myself on a white white wall and print
myself on it, red white, reddy rust against/ white, I wanted to
print myself, / The wall absorbing and repelling the lines stark
and fresh/ I wanted to leave an impression/
sessions lasted five minutes or less, they were intense a burst
of activity in an otherwise dull and protracted and tomorrow and
tomorrow and tomorrow life a flurry
an action a swift and easy slash a release and all the while I
imagined my body against the cool surface of the wall, if I
pressed hard enough I would become the cool surface of the wall
hidden behind the wardrobe, become the wall flat and simple and
undemanding
Lisa D'Onofrio
Poet's comment: This piece began with me wanting to continue the themes brought up by Basketcase 1. I completed the words while Bronwen worked on the piece, and this process seemed to work for us. Previously we had discussed some ideas. I was thinking about skin and the way bodies hold memories, and I kept returning to the the phrase 'written on the body'.
This is a sequel to Basketcase 1
Basketcase 1
it's like tape you see, glittering from a distance, looping
through branches and wire fences/
you think – that's so pretty –and for a moment you forget
you've seen it before and it draws the corners of your eyes
in/
you get up close and see the plastic carcass, disembowelled in
the mud, it's innards – brown tape suddenly dull when the sun
goes in/
when i felt it the best i can say was it was like that
transparent cassette case/
nothing in me put me in a player and push on and nothing will
come out/
and i tried hard to think but thoughts blew me away and they
thought they could see right through me/
they didn't like that so much was visible i was festooned
with workings and words/
here now the insides have been taken out and put on display,
hanging from the washing lines, waiting for the light so they can
dance/
the stuff i took made me like that case – see through nothing
going on here mister and im wearing my insides out still
Lisa D'Onofrio
Poet's comment: This piece represents the first entire collaboration by Bronwen and myself. I had had the image of a basket woven with words in my head for some time, and had discussed this with Bronwen. I then went away and wrote the words while Bronwen worked on the piece. The words are meant to be flowing, but I used a jagged sentence structure to represent the disparity between the narrator and others' perception of her. I love this final piece – in it I feel you can see a real development in both our work.
See also Basketcase 2
Basketcase
It was clear between Lisa and myself that the main image should be in the form of a basket, suggesting the title of the piece and encompassing many more links with mental breakdown. I imagined it to be monochrome and to be semi-transparent, open and vessel-like. The poem itself is displayed so that it can be read, but deciphering is hindered by the weaving of the words, scrambled in places and blank in others.