Fragmentation Erasure Augmentation
I learned
in channel flipping
David Bowie assembled phrases and words
on strips of paper
cut from texts or written out
by hand
strips
arranged
at random
his listeners
called them lyrics
Bowie called it fragmentation
performed it to music
we danced
Katrinka Moore’s Thief
assemblage
poetry
taken from texts
through the process of erasure
makes meaning
different
same
fragmentation
makes you resee
text inside text in potential
and you find yourself
trying it out too
Earthquakes lightning strikes volcanic eruptions
flash floods and flash mobs
instead of FEMA
overrun by
concentration camp
guards worth more than teachers
pledge allegiance
pedophiles more revered
than field workers
In fragmentation
our country
our short attention spans
short circuited by shock
no common culture
no common causes
only
my tower of Babel
Our task
to augment with words
fill join complete connect
the empty spaces
make beautiful meaning
uncovering in the erasure
what was erased
only better
It’s not stealing
if the words and spaces move you
if the word spaces make you cry
if the words spaces open
the possible
Artists
anticipate
are attuned to
act out
splintering fracturing factioning
the fragmenting
all our children will know
of this life
this world
is hate heat hardship
or is it
cut a strip
erase
augment
give it a good beat
hold it out to me
let’s dance
The Miss O' Show (Teacher's Edition) 