Still Life

by Rowland Bagnall

The world is a piece of raw material – Olga Rozanova

We left what we had broken / broken, drifting from a surface which seems to but doesn’t move, / waiting to see if / everyone we knew had been killed in the attacks. / Then I deleted ‘I am deleting the next sentence’ / from the next sentence. // From inside we could hear / what was probably / a traffic helicopter / and watched Jurassic Park (1993) / until the Dilophosaurus spat venom / into that guy’s face.

In 1928, engineers at General Electric broadcast / ‘the first original television drama production’. / It was shot entirely of facial close-ups / by three motionless cameras. / The resulting images flickered across a 3x4-inch screen. // Shortly afterwards, another drama simulated / a guided missile attack on New York City / from the missile’s point of view, / a slow aerial approach ending in an explosion / ending in a blackout.

We wore joke T-shirts which said / ‘My Other T-shirt is a Joke T-shirt’. / Then I wrote a poem / which said ‘I wrote / ‘a slow aerial approach ending in an explosion’ / in a poem which already said this,’ // deleting / We left what we had broken / broken, drifting from a surface which seems to but doesn’t move / from the next sentence.

On the horizon, / everything decolourized. / The paintings in the museum had been replaced / with framed posters which said / ‘The paintings in the museum have been replaced’. 

From inside we could hear / what was probably / a guided missile attack on New York City. / The resulting images flickered across a 3x4-inch screen / until the Dilophosaurus spat venom / from the missile’s point of view.

Then I deleted ‘I am deleting the next sentence’ / from a poem which already said this. // Shortly afterwards, another drama simulated / a traffic helicopter / waiting to see if / the paintings in the museum had been replaced.

It was shot entirely of facial close-ups / with framed posters which said / ‘In 1928, engineers at General Electric broadcast / into that guy’s face.’ // We wore joke T-shirts which said / ‘Everything Decolourized’ / on the horizon / and watched Jurassic Park (1993).

Then I wrote a poem / ending in a blackout / which said ‘I wrote / My Other T-shirt is a Joke T-shirt,’ / deleting / from a poem which already said this. // Everyone we knew had been killed in the attacks, / the first original television drama production. / The paintings in the museum have been replaced / by three motionless cameras.