Kristin Mariani


Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts

this dress and its body, elsewhere


I begin in the middle where edges touch all sides and turn under, like a series of seams. This page is a place, a poem, constructed from fragments of cloth and writing. Piecing remnants together to construct a body—like a dress which drapes from top to bottom—I offer a view from inside. This is about my body, its sensorial layers, its reaches, and its openings. Sometimes my body takes in and sometimes it emits—skin, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, anus, and vagina. Slipping into this dress, I know not which way is out. The cloth is lubricious and surrounds me, absorbing me. My voice is entwined with its grain. This is my location for meaningful connection.