debt ritual: grain

by Katie Naughton



with debt owed to Roland Barthes “The Grain of the Voice”







I never wanted money anyway I wanted

texture

which money seems to have

its own texture

not the texture everything else has

like you can pay for thought-

fulness that smooths

what you want to be smooth and

makes particular what you want

to pay for

to make money life-

like but like life that’s money-

like

singled out and beautiful

which makes art

a problem

confused with money

me too

it seems having

sought

a textural pleasure

written into wanting

patterns of light and shadow

on the faces of people

from some other

time or place put

to film or

imagination or memory

coming out of a dark room

onto the street in the middle of a work day

in an expensive city

and believing

a way to feel this

the grain in money

as a grain in money

my voice my hand

the lemon the leather the light

I bought I wrote

to place myself

to make a name







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