Biscuits Thrown From a Window
I
our world’s trans parent mouth takes sigh
t out of our
livings pace and fills an out
side with eyes & eye activity a plane of
glass holds the fly’s journey
and lets light
pass through the bond between heat & cold
a long view framed by wood
is kept a
moment in clear squares then re leased
to distance & its spat
ial rant melted sand
is c lean and magnifies or shr inks or b
ends the
sun’s warmth as seen or not we
stare out of the wind o it takes us from
our
corner but
leaves us with our bodies it
takes our seeing in to the
vast as we sit
or stand in our cell the air pushed
through
an open window curtains billowed
like two
people
fattening & starving & fattening &
starving ... and so it was food began to
fall
through
a/the win dow in a/the form of un
seen dreams a square dream
clearly fitted
perfect
ly between bits of processed tree
II
wheat tightened to dry tiles or discs of food
a biscuit crumb
bles a valley of corn harvest
and its she aves are c rushed to crumbs
each dry moon cru
shed by teeth yields calor
ies like ferv our for a belief of going
on in a
body
the bisc (yo)u it man with f rail
bones
of down ground & cooked grains
very carefully
lead
his life away from rat tling jolts or damp
cell ars the field I played in
as a child with
its gol den stubble fresh after
the combine
sits
on my table as a small circle I can put my
mouth round I watch the g
olden light on
biscuit
change as a biscuit sun sinks into hedge
row each crumb from what I’ve crunched cool
ing amongst dust
and its lost to the ants as to
kens of civilisation they take each token back
to the nest where
calories for momentum are
stored for the long distance & time it
takes
to evolve to
a moment of inventing biscuits
III
see -through wheat world’s mouth takes
sight out
of food-discs living space crumbles a valley
of corn
outside eyes
’ sheaves glass holds dry moon crushed
by teeth
let light pass threw to yield bonds between
heat & belief
in a body of moment a long view in
clear ground-down & cooked
grains coins then released
to very care fully lead my life bend
sun’s warmth with
golden stubble as seen or not we after combines
stare
out of a
window my table as a small circle takes us
from our
corner I can put my mouth round hosts our
seeing into a biscuit’s change
vast as I sit whilst biscuit
sun sinks stand in our cell’s air hedgerow
each crumb
pushed through open from what I’ve crunched
collects
people
fat ten ing & starving tokens
to the ants civil
ization’s window forms un seen calories a
square dream
stored
for round distance clearly fitted perfectly between
times it takes to evolve
bits of processed tree frame our
clear moment of in venting biscuits as pains
of glass con
f use f lies
The third part of this poem was Commissioned by Curator John Clark. It was exhibited at Sheffield Hallam University’s End Gallery, and published
in the exhibition catalogue as part of In Their Own Words. Nine artists, nine poets and nine jewellers
were invited to participate in an exhibition about words and texts in art galleries. The resulting exhibition juxtaposes the
work of practitioners all too rarely placed on the same platform.
Participants: Julie Ashworth, Jivan Astfalck, Dave Ball, Elizabeth Callinicos,
Lin Cheung, John Clark, Martyn Crucefix, Alec Finlay, Shelby Fitzpatrick, Rachel Garfield, Mark Goodwin, Mark Gubb, Sarah
Hannah, Maria Hanson, Chris Jones, Julia Keyte, David Kirshner, Anna Lorenz, Simon Morris, Ilona Niemi, Simone Nolden, Mario
Petrucci, Joanne Pond, Tony Rickaby, Fiona Sampson, Matthew Sweeney, Pam Thompson, Julian Walker. March 2007.
Biscuits Thrown
From a Window is the title of a short performance film
by artist Dave Ball
