restless and pent 
in silence
only breaths to mark time
snow packed at the ingress
walls slick and burning
greasy flame trickling 
smoke separating
over the mound of 
wave-rolling skins

without a 
pulsing water-sky desert
deep moaning gales
raising our ribs 
cutting between
pitch night 
clawing at the light
caustic
thought failing to congeal
in hoarfrost
clung to by bleary stars

too much ice
body all in pieces
missing you in this
they call 
the wind-loved spot
​​Patrick Scorese is a writer, historiographer, and performance-based artist in Jackson Heights, NY. I recently co-edited the multi-authored academic monograph, Pandemic Performance: Resilience, Liveness, and Protest in Quarantine Times (Routledge), about the intersection of art and activism during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Rag and Bone Aesthetics, a multimedia collaboration with visual artists Ify Chiejina, Hannah Cook, Rejin Leys, and Daphne Silbiger, will be available this winter (Small Editions). Writings have also appeared in MARCH: A Journal of Art and Strategy, the International Journal of Performance Art and Digital Media, Ex Nunc, Culturebot, Queen Mob's Teahouse, Crack the Spine, Angel Rust, and others.
header image: Aaron Burden via Unsplash