Ilyas Kassam
Siobhan says there is a light on in the bathroom
Siobhan says if you squint hard enough you can see dogs fly
Outside there is a massacre
vegans are marching over the blood of a soybean
The communist are looting their skins
Siobhan says that governance is just a new variety of blue
The marbles fall to the floor
A mouse runs up to each marble and looks at its reflection
On the other side of the world the ghost of Picasso is rising
On the other side of Picasso an art critic is writing about privilege
God has taken a vacation and is lying on a beach in the Bahamas leafing through catalogues of Art Deco furniture
On the other side of the Bahamas the vegans are being massacred
They are all drinking Pina Colada
Siobhan says each wave has a placenta
At least 3000 people are drinking a milkshake
At least 300 people are slurping in an audibly rich manner
In Vietnam there is a storm brewing
Siobhan says language is a car bomb
Siobhan wipes her mouth
Siobhan says milkshake is best without milk
The mouse stops at one marble
The mouse has found its true self
The mouse is sitting on a beach in the Bahamas leafing through a catalogue of cheese
In front of me a car is speeding through a puddle, the water settles, I see a sky in the paving
The mouse clasps the marble
and scurries to the bathroom, buries the marble under a pile of tissue, and sneezes
Siobhan says tea is never not bleeding
The mouse is clasping the eyes of Siobhan
The mouse is collecting colour
The mouse is fussy with love
The mouse is building a home
The mouse is teaching a seminar
The mouse is labelling its biscuits
The mouse has the eyes of Siobhan
Siobhan says collecting things is mental illness making a film
On the other side of Vietnam there is a rainbow
At the bottom of the rainbow is a pool of marbles
In Kensington someone is sitting in silence
In Kensington someone is thinking about privilege
In Kensington someone is imagining a marble
In Kensington someone is dying of ALS
Siobhan says if you tilt this way the reflection is of the moon
The moon says please hold me
The wind says on the other side of the world a child is ridden with love
In Kensington a child is crocheting a scarf
In Kensington a boy is collecting his marbles
Siobhan says David Lynch doesn’t eat breakfast
Siobhan says when I was a child Ireland used to grow its own grass, now it is owned by the vegans
On the other side of Ireland a soybean is exiling its oestrogen
Siobhan says there are enough fish for the cats to never deny the marbles reflection
On the other side of the marble a cat is eating a mouse
On the other side of the Bahamas god is now arriving
On that side of the Bahamas the mouse is talking with god
On that side of the Bahamas they are sharing their catalogues
On that side of the Bahamas the Pina Colada is exquisite
God is making a cheese platter : On that side of the Bahamas God is redecorating heaven
Siobhan says she is collecting placenta
Siobhan says she wants an abortion
Siobhan says she is pro life
Siobhan says she is collecting ideas
In Kensington someone is frying placenta
In Kensington a small boy is writing a poem
In Kensington the rain has no acid
In Kensington Alain de Botton is polishing his Mont Blanc pen (it’s a fountain pen, it writes with the blood of Hypatia)
In Greece Socrates is swallowing a snail
On the other side of the snail god is building a castle
Siobhan says I bought you a cake
Siobhan says sugar is magic
On the other side of the Bahamas a witch is building a fire
In the bathroom the mouse is polishing his marble
Ireland was once green and luscious and fertile and endless and cloudless and sheep fell from the sky and the grass was marbled with blue and the sea was everywhere and IRA stood for “I really am” and god flooded the world with Pina Colada
And Siobhan says would you like to go for a swim?
And a boy in Kensington says yes.
Ilyas Kassam is a London-based artist and poet. His works centre around the notion of infinity and the role language plays within the mystical experience. He is the author of Reminiscence of the Present, a resident poet at The Public Sphere London, co-host of Karl Marx Does the Washing Up podcast, and was an exhibitor at the 2018 International Ismaili Islamic Arts Festival. His poetry has been published in collections by New River Press, Space Zine, Design Kompany and Rivista Magazine, and has been exhibited in Japan alongside the famed Misuzu Kaneko.