The Poetry Project

Bad Examples

Turner Capehart Canty

BAD EXAMPLES
Performing work --> to a different end --> not grounded in someone else’s futurity culture on repeat --> perpetual labor --> the commons of the household please take off your shoes when entering --> thank you!
CALENDAR:
January: 
Taking care of basic shit.  
February: 
Are you for or against narrative? 
March: 
Throw down the gauntlet. 
April: 
Necessary self care. 
May:  
A get-well card from your Mom. 
June: 
Officially official. 
July: 
Rampant growth. 
August: 
Characteristic upheaval. 
September: 
Shifting parameters. 
October: 
Role-playing and fantasy. 
November: 
Virtue signaling from the circle. 
December: 
Carving out a space. 

POEM:
Squishy match-making outside of the typical conventions. Messiness is the horse you rode in on. One night maybe we set fireworks off on the roof. Visibly crushing all over the place. A deeply unproductive way of being. Soft then hard then soft again. Foam roller. Ethical cruising as a means of restoring trust. Weeding out the categorical. Moths are mostly dust they say. The dog came in and just waited there. Mycelium commands you to buy the ice cream with the last of your birthday money. Taking time to imagine life beyond self-preservation. Technology is not always life-extending. The reproductive ideal has been restructured with emphasis on austerity. Yet, excess is as inherent to the model as anti-indigenousness is. Google Drive insists that your name is something else entirely.

DIAGRAM:
TRAGIC STORY right arrow LIFE EXPERIENCE down arrow FALSE POSITIVE left arrow BAD EXAMPLE up arrow
HOUSEHOLDS
MULTI-GENERATIONAL HOMEWRECKERS UNITE!
You may not know the cause you fight for until you are forced to leave what you had behind.
Choose your fighter or have your fighter chosen for you. No way to know how much is enough until it’s too late.

Illustration of a house on fire

INDEX OF HOUSEHOLDS:
A squat, a rave, a mattress, a cemetery, a ballroom, a morgue, an ocean, a factory, a venue, a closet, a swarm,
a hive, a season, an archive, a refusal. Why am I even putting things in boxes like this? Some constraints are necessary, joyful, painful, pleasurable. An opportunity to engage with the past and present from many different angles. An imperfect space. An inability to edit one’s own thoughts into a coherent message (perhaps due to increased time online). A deodorized utopia on the verge of non-existence. A lack of self-restraint when day- dreaming about time travel.

SUPERSTRUCTURE OF THE ARCHIVE/HOUSEHOLD:

A bubble diagram, the central bubble reads ARCHIVE/ HOUSEHOLD and from that, the outer bubble read "LATE CAPITALIST ENNUI," "DIDN’T HAVE TIME TO TAKE A LUNCH BREAK," "SOMEBODY’S MATTRESS," "HOARDING OF RESOURCES," "LEAVING THE SPONGE TO DRY ON THE COUNTER," "LIMITED FUNDING," "REDIRECTING BLAME TO OTHERS," and " LABOR AND DILIGENCE"

Work from We Are How We Live: Collectivity & Care In & Beyond the Household with Rebecca Teich

Elsewhere