Abecedarian after border speeches

Nilufar Karimi, Eliseo Ortiz, and Loom

YOU ARE READING A BOUNDARY, A CREASE, WITH DEFINED EDGES, ENCLAVES, ENDS OF FIELDS, FINGERTIPS, FORTRESSES, FAILURES. FEEL ALSO, THE GRAIN, THE GRASS, THE GELATIN, THE GLASS, THE GOLD, HELD IN THE LINE AS IT LANDS. MAYBE MOVEMENT, BY ALL MEANS, A NEST EMPTYING AT NOON, NIGHT’S NEEDS OVER THE ORDERING OF POSSESSIONS. PROBABLY QUESTIONS, FOLLOWED BY THE QUELLING OF QUESTIONS, QUOTING THE RIVERS, THE RAPIDS, THE RAINS, THE ROADS. REALLY, READING AND STOPPING, SEEING, SENSING THE SEIZURE, THE SPLIT, SOME TIME, TENUOUS, UNDERNEATH WHICH, WOVEN IN WATER, YEARS AND YEARS 1

1Font based on 40 borders initiated or substantially fortified between 2000 and 2020.

2000: Israel – Lebanon, 2001: Uzbekistan – Afghanistan, 2001: Turkmenistan – Uzbekistan, 2002: India – Bangladesh, 2002: Israel – West Bank, 2003: China – North Korea, 2003: Botswana – Zimbabwe, 2003: India – Pakistan, 2003: Saudi Arabia – Yemen, 2004: India – Burma, 2004: Thailand – Malaysia, 2004: Kuwait – Iraq, 2005: Brunei – Malaysia, 2005: United Arab Emirates – Oman, 2006: United States of America – Mexico, 2006: Kazakhstan – Uzbekistan, 2006: Saudi Arabia – Iraq, 2007: Pakistan – Afghanistan, 2007: Iran – Pakistan, 2009: Uzbekistan – Kyrgyzstan, 2009: Burma – Bangladesh, 2010: Israel – Egypt, 2009: Egypt – Gaza, 2010: Iraq – Syria, 2011: Greece – Turkey, 2011: Azerbaijan – Armenia, 2014: Turkey – Syria, 2014: Bulgaria – Turkey, 2014: Ukraine – Russia, 2015: Austria – Slovenia, 2015: Hungary – Slovenia, 2015: Hungary – Croatia, 2015: North Macedonia – Greece, 2015: Slovenia – Croatia, 2015: Hungary – Serbia, 2016: Hungary – Romania, 2016: Austria – Italy, 2017: Turkey – Iran, 2018: Saudi Arabia – Qatar, 2021: Dominican Republic – Haiti.

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Example #1 Reading a BARRIER will require a ROUTINE ADJUSTMENT

Example #2 Read, slowly, TROOPS REPLACE POLICE REPLACE AN ELECTRICAL FENCE REPLACE AFTERNOON RIVER WATER

Example #3 Read, slowly, the HISTORICAL FEAR OF COMMON MOUNTAINS, FIELDS.

Example #4 The SUBSTANTIAL FORCE OF POSSESSIONS ON THE LIVING

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Abecedarian after border speeches has been reprinted from Poetry Magazine November 2021