(Student Submission)
Theme: Home
Artist Statement:
Quarantine brings on so many contradictions when we think of ourselves in the world and ourselves in relation to others. The gentle comfort of being home all the time eventually gives way to an unhinged sort of urge to escape; anxiety turns into inexplicable anger at the world’s circumstances; even relationships just become mirrors through which we examine how we feel towards ourselves.
These days
These days I want to run to the hills
Leave behind all my clothes, my books, my friends,
All the things that so softly envelop me.
I want to hire someone to punch me hard in the face
and then walk away.
It’s a matter of inner peace.
It would justify my rage.
There is less urgency in the intimacy of quarantine
I like to turn the lights off, imagine we’re not home
Speak to you in the strangest of voices.
When I am with you I get this violent feeling of permanence
Of being anchored, of being whole, maybe
And I get a restlessness that has nothing to do with you.
I don’t know how you don’t get tired of me
When I’m getting tired of being myself.