Mark Miller, RISING SON (FLAG#6); Gouache, glitter, collage; 9 x 11 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Pierogi Flat Files.
Peter Moysaenko: Does surrealist figuration serve as only a temporary—or even ersatz—plug against a sense of existential lack; that is, do you regard imaginative play as a tenuous diversion, or as a corrective force within corporeal domains?
John Randolph Carter: Corrective force within corporeal domains. I like to follow my mind as if it were a stream meandering down a hill, speeding up, slowing down, taking unexpected turns. I don’t want to know ahead of time what the next word will be or the next image or how it all is going to end (if it does end). I write in order to find out. I like to surprise myself, and I do everything I can to make that possible. My landscape is my mind, and I need speed and candor. What is important is that I allow what is real to emerge unedited and uncensored. What is real to me is what is born of necessity—candid, raw, vital, urgent, natural, direct, resonant.
Balloons the Shape of Manhattan
by John Randolph Carter
Balloons the shape of
Manhattan float across
the desert floor and
seagulls afraid to go
out at night huddle
by the shore of a dry lake.
Green corpses, only
pretending to be dead,
line up for their unemployment
checks, while mass murderers
who wish to be forgiven
line up outside the confession booths.
This makes me think of Babe Ruth,
who used to say,
“Get me a hot dog, kid.”
In the ballpark the players
stand motionless in the hot sun
and wait for someone to step
up to the plate.
On the other side of town,
well-wishers shower
the lucky couple with rice
as they run for the car.
No one thinks anything
bad can happen.
John Randolph Carter is a poet and artist. A finalist for the National Poetry Series, his poetry has appeared in journals, including The Cream City Review, LIT, North American Review, and Verse. He has been the recipient of N.E.A., New York State Council, and Fulbright grants. His art is in 32 public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. One-person exhibitions include The University of Michigan Art Museum and the Minneapolis Institute.
For more on Mark Miller, visit his page at Pierogi Flat Files.
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