Frederik: Intermission, 2014

Performance part of “Performance as Publishing”, at the New York Art Book Fair

Slide show with live musical accompaniment by James Ilgenfritz

 

 

Before proceeding,

we must first

                              return to our Envoys

and their                     tormented crusade,

 

                                                                                            providing some explanation,

                                                                                            where                explaining

        is                                    due.

 

Each Heresy was plagued by the

                            same

                            affliction.

 

                        A disease of the body and soul.

                        As old as the Multiverses,

                        as deep as the Pacific,

                        as high as a weather balloon,

 

     the bittersweet

                             addiction

         to the luring                contours of the

                             Sonnet    .

 

The Sonnet’s meter,

                in its cyclic agitation,

       transfixed                            their

             souls

 and

  wits              .

 

They were intoxicated by its

                  temporal     pattern and

                  medicated   atmosphere.

 

The sequence of

f

o

u

r

t

e

e

n

 

l

i

n

e

s    had them

                   spellbound.

 

Five       Orthodoxies

swore to fight each other to their

           last

                 dying

           breath     .

 

 

They would battle for every single syllable,

every            turn

and               rhyme.

 

 

The Sonnet wasn’t too keen on hearing anyone’s

                last dying breath,

                                 yet

       she                           enjoyed

watching the                   moves

                          and

                          counter moves

being played out                        .

 

 

        It was                   a tragicomedy

                                           being performed for her alone,

                                      in which the script

                      had gone out for lunch,

                                                            leaving the actors to

                                                                             fend for

               themselves                                                          .

 

 

Frederik,

               the dramaturge,

               playwright,

    director and

    audience,

                               understood the

Sonnet                    form.

 

The

Sonnet

               blessed her for          that.

 

 

And so

           the Heresies pleaded.

Frederik

              and the

Sonnet                       listened.