s w i f t s  &  s l o w s: a quarterly of crisscrossings

Dismember the Night Thread Slams
Kofi Fosu Forson & Dianne Bowen

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Dangerous liason roaming side streets, New York back alleys, five points on the map,
tour guides fully wigged in regalia pretty in pink lipstick, young dudes carousing door to
door, exploring what it’s like, not to be themselves, to be themselves, wanting more at
each door, banging to get in, not always knowing the secret knock, call Will and Alan
they’ll know what to do, a few fragments left on the street mark the way east, knock
three times #16

Young men, vice quarterly marching in boots, tattoo arms, shaved heads bouncing off
graffiti walls, fury, rottweilers in chains, hipster squad dancing dangerously on needles,
spanking Michelle, Budweiser bottles, east is west, west is east, boy toys toy with toy
boys, kissing Marlene, she wears lipstick, dresses in long skirts, lower east side Oscar
Wildes, Tompkins Square, drug addicted Lucifer, Latino men preaching HOWL

Flashing light across Gotham, Hero’s on the way, speeding cars fully loaded, Presidents,
Queens, Monarchy’s on parade waving, blowing I love you kisses to strangers, blinded
by cameras stumbling red carpets in designer dresses, stiletto fashionista click-clacking
cobble stone streets, Tribeca, Ceder Tavern, abstract brawls give way to young dudes
walking the beat

Gotham glamour, limousines, Czech girls, independent filmmaker’s lunch, casting agents
rummaging through head shots, hostesses from Brooklyn auditioning for parts in soap
operas, dinner theater, cabaret girls sashaying between veal cutlets, spinach, champagne
hours, opening night, designer costumes, red carpet, paparazzi, cameras flashing,
celluloid heroes drunken after-hours

Bacall rasp in her voice she whispers, bending deep at the knee, skillful edit is required,
scalpel, razor, slice and dice pile on the floor, begging anesthesia makes needle ready,
never delivers, Hollywood dreams, celebrity tour buses, clicking cameras obsession,
drive by fields black dahlias

leather clouds, whip weather handcuffed by marksmen with paintbrushes for swords,
standing ghetto soldiers thinking like brain surgeons commenting on film, promoting
performances in underground dungeons, theater of pain and Pirandello, temperament
knife sharp, hoodlums roam, cars cruise, dark night, we wait for Gecko, money-less,
shooting heroin at stars

From Forson & Bowen’s thread poetry and selfie taking project.

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Kofi Fosu Forson is a Ghanaian writer and artist who explores gender based art about the art muse, root of the artist’s psycho-social transformations, habitation of a city (New York), by using collaborative interventions in poetry, theater, and performance.

Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Dianne Bowen was a multi-media artist. Her work pushed the boundaries of drawing as a medium, and encompassed video, painting, installations, murals, photography, original artist books and poetry.  Through various mediums and techniques formally her work was about pushing boundaries of drawing as a medium and “the line”. Conceptually she addressed the dichotomy between white noise, silence within nature and the loud and constant banter of urban living.
Dianne Bowen: The New York Optimist→
Dianne Bowen: Saatchi Art→