Four poems by Sarah Hobin, in response to works by Jacob Pet and Caleb Clemente
In My Hand
in response to Fixation Object by Jacob Pet
for a breeze,
move
to the beach,
toss
a dead kite again
and again,
and hope
something will happen
to cut
fabric to frame
to call it
object
to watch it
fight
against the wind
like a hooked fish
a line,
reeling and
releasing, but
still
dependent on weather
still
folded to form
still
string in my hand
Jacob Pet, Fixation Object
Fixation Object
in response to Fixation Object by Jacob Pet
only good if attention
to fixate
ATTN: OBJECT
capacity – un – capacitated
fix atefix ate
HERE, HOLD
Breath HOLD Object ation
>> Fix attention
-- BREAK
FUCK OBJECT FIXATE!
>>Necessitate
Try again - -
- - fixation object
HOLD
hand hold
wrap -- around
around
around
set down
fixation / object / hand
HOLD
hold object, fixate
hold, (hand) hold
hold (hand)
hold
hold
hold
(hand)
hold
hold
Caleb Clemente, Pietà
On Turning 33
in response to Pietà by Caleb Clemente
The year when
everything comes
to an end, no matter
your age. The year when
there is no Jesus
to Lazarus you
from the tomb.
No Father around
responsible to what
He put in motion.
He loves
the delicate balance
He’s subjected you to.
Loves
the way Narrative
and Symbolism
symbiotically make
something out of a life.
The axis of the earth
balances on a chiseled story
of self-sacrifice and piety.
Have His expectations
crushed you yet? Or
are you still trying
to uphold the world
for Him? (He loves
it so.) Oh well, it happens
to the least of us.
Caleb Clemente, Untitled (shirt)
Threadbare
in response to Untitled (shirt) by Caleb Clemente
⟼
I run my fingers delicately / through my hair, / let / what
follows, follow:
several strands / which I’ll slip through the eye of a needle / to
mend your shirt.
Unspooling my hair / I’d give my own body to restore / what
you’ve made threadbare,
the holes you told me of, / the holes
/ one could fit a whole fist through.
Delicate
like lace and stained / with years of enduring / repetitive, /
hard / labor,
and sweat, / until variations on green grow /
from the armpits and neckband.
I’d endure
you, / me, / strand by strand / stitched along your seams / making
holes
less / visible.
Why / do
I love you so? / Tattered and messed, / the good lived out of you,
/ youth
worn away. / Still, / I hold your limp shirt / in
the small of my fist and breath / you in
as
if the only way / to ever satisfy this hunger is /
asphyxiation
by the fibers of your discarded /
pheromones.
Why / do I love you so? / To
make a rat’s nest / of these once-fine threads, / to darn
the garment / you don’t even want anymore?
A
silver needle slips / through the transparent sleeve.
Is
it repairing? / Is it wounding?
Event date: Apr 1, 2022
Sarah Hobin is a writer and arts administrator. She
holds an MA in the Humanities from the University of Chicago, where
she studied poetry and creative non-fiction. Prior to her time at
the University of Chicago, Sarah worked in curation and arts
programming for museums and galleries in San Francisco, Oakland, and
Salt Lake City.
Jacob Pet is an MFA candidate at the University of Chicago working in needle felted fiber sculpture and transmission art. His work is interested in communication, belief and the phenomenon of hypnosis—its relationship to art making and art interaction.
Caleb Clemente is an MFA candidate at the University of Chicago currently working in sculpture and mark-making. He is interested in tension, the body, and iconography.