This is the sixth instalment of LOVE AND WAGE LABOUR IN THE AGE OF CAPITALIST PANDEMIC. These instalments are journal entries entitled with only their date. I wanted to try to document this time, the time of COVID-19. It struck me that I was having conversations with people who were all having unique experiences of this pandemic, and that most of these conversations, like all memories, would fall away. I wanted to document it. These are my experiences only. I hope you find something in them. – Madeleine
we are completing a 1000 piece jigsaw
of Gustav Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’
we poured out the pieces onto the table
a mess of gold and black and red.
carefully selected the outer rim parts, the
puzzle pieces with a flat edge
make a border of gold and red
then start on the faces:
pink and peach and cream colours with
fragments of lip and eye
i salvage bits of skin out of the pile
to put together and make the faces kiss
then labour over hair and leaves
because each piece looks practically the same
i look at the mountain of cardboard bits
body parts we are yet to fit together
and think about each person who died yesterday
without a kiss and not safe at all
not completing a puzzle with a sleeping dog under the table
not drinking coffee and discussing how blessed we are
to have some sunshine at this time of year
it makes me boil to think of us this way
each bit of flesh tossed around to find the right one
Gustav Klimt knew about loss
some of his work was burned up by nazis
and he repainted them later to make up what was lost
I wonder how we’ll try to make it up
A memorial statue, perhaps, or a week-long clap
really we will never atone it.
really we might never have the language to
talk about what’s happening to us
really it might only be reflected in artworks
perhaps that’s why he painted it
perhaps that’s why I’m so enraged when I look at it
tomorrow we will start on the gowns
