2010.54.1480
Burial Rite For Nuclear Weapons
1981
22.5 in HIGH x 17.5 in WIDE
(57.15 cm HIGH x 44.45 cm WIDE)
(57.15 cm HIGH x 44.45 cm WIDE)
All Of Us Or None Archive. Gift of the Rossman Family.
2010.54.1480
Lower right corner has:" (c) 1981 Paula Moyer" and "Northland Poster Collective / Worker Owned / RLM".
Poster has a stylized drawing of a city street. There is a four story building at left, the bottom floor is a shop and several figures are visible through the window. On the street a man and a woman are using a hand truck to move several boxes. At the base of the right side of the drawing there is a tree. Towards the top of the drawing the leaves of the tree meld into the pattern of a blanket and a larger image of a man and woman in bed with a image of a picture bird on the wall behind them dominates the upper right corner of the drawing. On the left side of the poster over top of the drawing there is a brown rectangular field that contains the text: "Burial rite for / nuclear weapons / Lay your hands on your lover's face / over favorite bones around his eyes / or the joints threading jaw to temple / then trace the soft places: lip, ear / silken blur of lashes / that pull open his eyes / and say to yourself: I could lose this / Know how fragile he is / symphony of muscles under satin skin / will freeze to stone / when they scramble for buttons / we've heard about / since we first scrawled our names / in chalk on green boards / crouched in school halls / for civil defense / (they didn't tell us / if it happens / the polar icecaps will melt / and only the roaches will live) / Cradle his neck in your palms and know / the petalled curve of ear / the shell-thin sockets / will only stay in place / if the bombs do / peer through downtown windows / at lovers on duty after kissing good-bye / beauticians frown and twist hair over rods / janitors hoisting mop buckets whistle / For someone the make air sing / skin dance / swallow, make time for necessities / envelopes stuffed / petitions signed / people tying armbands in the park / We must make it safe / for the perfume of the night / laughter, legs braided under sheets / fingers teasing you awake with the sun / - Paula Moyer".
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