20130226

Julian Jason Haladyn


Readymade Articulations of Time

archaeology is a funny business
fathers and sons arguing over how long dinner will be

construction contracts become relics
                when they are not properly disposed of

ceilings leak and the toilet is installed sideways
the basement is where all the good stuff is
bootleg coffee mugs and a snow shovel
                that dad claims is worth millions
spray painted love letters are kept in the garage
along with every Christmas present
                that grandma ever got

plastic furniture preserves evidence
fingerprints and a picture of a man in drag
perfume bottles are actually ghosts
                that wake you in the night
                when they have to use the bathroom

easy-bake ovens and expensive cappuccino machines
kitchens are where families comes to die
buried in swimming pool size graves in the backyard
along with an assortment of objects
                that are designed to hide noises

found many years later when the world is no longer
                anything original


Foucault’s Singing Contest Trophy

In the centre of a well worn room
watching over shelves of books and an assortment of
                television memorabilia

                all of which had been won in illegal contests
                staged in the back row of lectures on
                various theoretical subjects


a gold coloured statue like a prison guard in a
                fancy space-age prison
                from a not so distant future

watches from his unidirectional past upon a
                rather pathetic coffee table
                teacups and cookie platters glued to its uneven surface

                it wanted to be hung on a wall
                hanging proudly like a painting of a
                person being hung in the town square


8 copies of an out of print manuscript
                titled “I Forgot Foucault”
                litter the always visible space like gold prisoners

                none of whom would dare open the book
                for fear of death
                self-enforced exile
                or having to actually read it

watch carefully as the frames of context advance in
                circular patterns
                celluloid voices guide the walk around the courtyard

                looking for a place where no one can see
                we make almost circular judgments all the time
                haunted by an idea


when we put money into parking meters
                without judges how would we know who’s
                the better singer



Julian Jason Haladyn is a Canadian writer and artist. His poems have appeared in the collections Crave It: Writers and Arts Food Anthology (2011) and Nuit Blanche: Poetry for Late Nights (2007), as well as numerous journals and magazines. Haladyn is the author of the poetry and art books Fragments of a Funeral Procession (2012), 12 Bulls (2010) and 17/13 (2007), as well as the chapbooks Biographical Notes for an Unrealized Project (2011) and Convulsive Hotel Dreams (2008). As an artist, his work has been exhibited internationally.
 
 
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