Matt Turner

Matt Turner is a writer and translator based in New York City, the author of four collections of poetry, most recently "The Places" (BlazeVOX 2025), and numerous translations from Chinese.

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5:47-5:51

pattern of automation

skin dripping off the elevated highway

the metal bar holding the roof in place, bracketed

to keep out the rain, resemblance to an arcade

a balcony onto the audience – stuttering

through the performance, upwards unfasten

6:53-6:57

all the days've, like a talisman

on a door, posted – move, orders

a searching expression that stays

movement to skip the present

on the ground, arms reaching pointing

the branches, a shape like that

in the arms, that look like branches

the bus kneels to the curb

and the human element leaves

figure of night – urban plan

6:53-6:57

blouse – imp – terrify – assemble

the upward swish of – goodwill voyage

and after the port, the bridge, the sinking

to do, all under a between

recollection of memory doesn't happen

not easily carpeting

7:05-7:11

of the pencil – etched tile – sound (slight)

back of material a longer finish

strokes on the paper to show depths

setting out in sawdust – watching from the window

cloud of labor

an inde-

7:09-7:13

interiors – two floors painted black

at night the audience uses

the stage at the rear of the first floor

next to the stairs, each leading

out to the other spaces, overheard

the long bus route down

to the center of the city and in

it the route through opening

8:01-8:06

heat – see it in the mirror

the giant building, poured in heat

I’m waiting, dumbstruck, on the corner

of the T-intersection, barely a car going by

on the other side:

a wall (of sorts)

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