A HISTORY OF NEW FORMS

For David Hammons

hairy stone

on white stool

on metal stand.

brooding about

lost air,

incandescent paint.

those tarpaulin

concealments.

mirrors dripping

dark celestial matter.

the fan in which

wind is still.

yellow table

where caravaggio

is beheaded.

old testament

of duchamp

made into

the history

of harlem.

beyond masks

floating on sea

new dream

breaks through

hands

of silent

enchanter.

here’s where

new african

genius is made,

changing the dream-

less lids

of duchamp

into the spring

of hammons.

blue time passing.

smaller

form,

bigger

conversation.

keep moving

it away

from what

it was.

from old

field,

new time.

music

in the stone.

alchemy

in the transcended

american air.

art is that book

in which history

of new forms

is written.

by the firedreams

of harlem.

throwing

the stone

into open sea

into sunrise

over brooklyn.