by Gina Mercer
musos are making
divine dissonance
in the resonance of the museum
immersed
in this massing mess
i float
one level up from the musos
wedged between an Egyptian sarcophagus
and a casually well-muscled security guard
study their mutually inscrutable faces
one painted and ancient
one patient and wired
what do they make of this surreal
whole performance
music, spaces, images, faces ‒
refloats
rewires
my brain
This poem unfurled after an avant-garde music performance in the Museum of Old & New Art, Tasmania, August 2014. Part of a weekend event, Synaesthesia +, staged at the remarkable MONA.
Biography
Gina Mercer revels in being a writer, teacher, and editor. She was Editor of Island Magazine from 2006-2010. She‘s taught creative writing in universities and communities for over 30 years. She’s published ten books (poetry, fiction, and academic nonfiction). Her two latest books are: The Sky Falls Down: An Anthology of Loss (co-edited with Terry Whitebeach, Ginninderra Press, 2019) and The Dictionary of Water (Wild Element Press, 2019, wild.element@iinet.net.au).
