POUR, TEAR, CARVE

Christenberry: a catalogue raisonnE

By Rachel Eisler

—after William Christenberry’s Alabama Box, 1980, and Southern Monument XI, 1983

I collect therefore I am.
My eye is my camera,
Collecting layers.
There is a gene
for this need
to hold on.

I have an eye for….
fill in the blank,
for filling any
emptiness,
for feeling ghosts
layered, on lay-away.

Of my South, they say
It isn’t even over:
the erasure,
a shrouded
shadow impasto:

the work of rubbing,
the work of not seeing,
of bending one’s neck
turning the other cheek.

Surely some paint
clings fast to brick
under layers of ___.
I can feel it.
Can you?

*William Christenberry,* Southern Monument XI, 1983. Mixed media, wood, sheet metal, metal signs, roofing materials, nails, red soil, and paint. 19 Å~ 28.5 Å~ 19 in. Estate of William Christenberry, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Rachel Eisler’s poetry and essays have appeared in the Baltimore Sun; poems have been published by upstreet, Gargoyle, and Little Patuxent Review, where her work was nominated for a Pushcart prize. One poem became an audio installation at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Rachel has been awarded a residency at The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and fellowships from the Maryland State Arts Council. She lives and teaches in Baltimore City.