Anastasia Radievska’s ‘First Wall – Aleph 1’

From City of the Sun * Місто Сонця

building a prison beyond this prison,
with the help of many others, building,
with hands tied to the ultimate imagination of building a
prison beyond this prison, because many of us thought to do so
independently and agreed mutually beneficial, building a prison
beyond this prison maybe because productive ultimately, maybe
because engrossing, the passion of building
a prison beyond this prison while in this prison, and dark besides,
and very instructive, the character of building and of prison and
knowing more about ourselves each time
we catch ourselves building a prison
beyond this prison again even having heard now the stories of how
others had tried it and how flawed, together,
incoherent, deciding anyway we
should be building a prison beyond this prison
and reminding each other that when we are finished building a prison
beyond this prison we can rest then and dutifully, from time to time,
picking up the bodies of those who died
building a prison beyond this prison,
carrying them to the edge of that which we are building beyond
this prison and throwing them off it tenderly, tenderly saying we are
building a prison beyond this prison so that you may have something
to be thrown off and so that in building a prison beyond this prison
together it might mean we imagine there is something beyond this prison
we are building and say so to each other as we build.

(after Anne Boyer)