Manifesto: Thoughts of Theory

by Laura Carter

I

I took it in; it was a reflection.
A man in a corner took it in too.
The hat was similar to itself.

In each reflection, the reflection of a prior life.
History is miracle.
How do any of us survive it?

Pattern recognizes silhouette.
Silhouette recognizes pattern (breeze).
All these thoughts of sexuation.

Is that really a word? the man should ask.
The girl he loves is lost in it.
Do they come from the mirror function too?

II

In Paris the fires were raging.
In the magasins, in the car lots.
I pressed my body straightway.

I mean, I pressed my bodies straightway.
The profile their reproduction.
The profile’s where we insert it.

In utopia the children ate candy.
Now I’m content with myself.
It’s the kind of content that makes one board trains.

History memory theory.
I won’t sculpt it; it will not occur.
The silhouettes are ghosts and the people gone.


Laura Carter lives in Atlanta, GA.