Poems After Andrew Bolton's Exhibition: Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, by Paul Cunningham

after Loewe. Jonathan Anderson. Coat, spring/summer 2023 menswear

tall oat grass of the blue wool broadcloth 
has no blueprints no pattern sheet 
only darts of new oath grass bunchgrass 
seed spikelet swells stiff awned teeth from 
the pond-soak side of a navy coat 
designed for a comrade’s perennial shape 
foliage well-suited whether dead or alive 
shifting sleeves of movement 
as if filled by body all along 
hairs of the leaf collar leaf blade ligules 
achieved by means of green lacing 
the production of high nutritional content 
to live is to wear what will be eaten 
a second skin for birds and mammals 
to wear is to be worn until a golden sum 
to be an afterward inflorescence 
the very last straw 

**

after Phoebe English. “Sunray” dress, spring/summer 2024

the dried weld soaked overnight 
to transmit our sun to silk charmeuse 
control acid alkaline iron 
atelier oriented toward light’s
rhapsodies later, the curious canary
blaze 
of iron passing into ochre 
as earth-born elements fall 
from her shoulders to her hips 
syllable by syllable 
                                   yellow 



**

Herbert Levine Inc. Herbert Levine and Beth Levine. Shoes, 1966

on and on 
barefoot for acres 
blonde on blonde 
lift lift newly 
every plastic blade 
handmade for walkin’ 
newly mown lawn dew 
lift lift a bee’s wing’s motion 
is root is route to somewhere 
what exposes what reveals 
that which was socked 
stung the flesh the pain 
was authentic 
shock pop terraria 
barefoot in the grass 
active pasture or 
act of passion 


**

after Bea Szenfeld. “Ammonite”, spring/summer 2014

aural paper waits white stalactile dripping 
plastic pearl milkwhites calamitythread 
an ocean-dwellered cave ceiling dawn 
torsos drawn deposits torn through 
conical ammonoidea drip drops 
the mammary teeth of colo 
strum suck septate depths 
unsweetened plates swel 
ling fluttering breasts oft 
twisting consciousnesses 
webbing ventral regions 
squealing lobes whorls 
enmesh infant visions 
calcium hardening 
nipple soft ammo 
nite spiral rip 
ple streams 
of time 
ly m 
ilk 

**

Alexander McQueen. Dress, spring/summer 2001

hospital gown stammers strandline along Norfolk beach
bivalve disposables shellfish encasements bleached
razor-sharp sequence everything clings like long hard petals
her silhouette vibrates with the structure of shatter a
two-way mirror prolongation of quiver fricative movements
of cream-white flexure brine reverberation the razor-height
of ventral margins breakage indefinite hard hitting the
glister of wallings clusters torsion prizes fallen breakage
indefinite divine ipseity the scroop of external skeleton’s
clatter leftover skin rasping expanse a new language no
limit to audacity no limit to volume meanwhile sea-weary
brittle model wrestles with dress a two-way mirror
prolongation of quiver fricative movements loosen from
worry her body goes dark with rage she becomes the dress
crashing with her own lyric chatter a splitting garment of
seafoam gasps and gashes endlessly 

Paul Cunningham

**

To view the specific fashions:

after Loewe. Jonathan Anderson. Coat, spring/summer 2023 menswear

https://imgix.bustle.com/uploads/image/2024/4/15/4627cbe0-ec4c-4e96-93f9-5b9681e82b35-loewe_ss23_mens_show_runway_look_54_front_rgb_cropped_2250x3000_54.jpeg?w=1200&h=1200&fit=crop&crop=focalpoint&fm=jpg&fp-x=0.5034&fp-y=0.2135

after Phoebe English. “Sunray” dress, spring/summer 2024

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6378bf29d5271b72c95fe0c5/1715094188221-PS42UVQVKOXK2QMV2BCM/015_PhoebeEnglish_%C2%A9AsiaWerbel.jpg

​Herbert Levine Inc. Herbert Levine and Beth Levine. Shoes, 1966

https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/api/collection/v1/iiif/170307/preview
​
​after Bea Szenfeld. “Ammonite”, spring/summer 2014

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Ammonite_by_Bea_Szenfeld_%2851613%29.jpg/1496px-Ammonite_by_Bea_Szenfeld_%2851613%29.jpg

Alexander McQueen. Dress, spring/summer 2001

https://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/images/McQ.1103a%E2%80%93d.EL.JPG

​**
These poems are from the author's unpublished manuscript, Awake in the Garden of Worn.
​
​Paul Cunningham co-manages Action Books. He is the author of two poetry collections from Schism Press: Fall Garment (2022) and The House of the Tree of Sores (2020). His next chapbook Sociocide at the 24/7 is forthcoming from New Michigan Press in 2025. His translation of Sara Tuss Efrik's play Danse Macabre Piggies was anthologized in Experimental Writing: A Guidebook and Anthology (Bloomsbury, 2024). Cunningham currently manages the MFA in Creative Writing Program at the University of Notre Dame.