empire

builder

i5

elusivity

the 5th issue of the empire builder. has been elusive in its making, rousing the late night alleyways and waiting for its time. which is now.

this issue highlights all things that are hard to hold and grasp. the founders are all present here with work that is the best of our offerings to date. tapping into rooted and ardent emotions. partnered with and inspired by art from hope clunie andrew strasburg | sarah wurzburg | chester bennett - respectfully present

i5 - elusivity.

ice | woodcut | hope clunie

Poetic Elusivity - chester bennett is in itself - stifling. leaving all those witness to it captured and gripped in a mysterious fog to what they just missed. all there is to do - is wander the wildness of dry prairies. the elusivity of gripping poetry - masquerading as love with blonde curls and neon tights. it dances in bear suits, gloved. poetic elusivity - smiles to all the poets - leaves us baroqued and bucolic. poets these days, the ipoets. adept with 2x4 screens elude the truth - then parade impatient glorious realizations of [ literary allusion | literary illusion | literary elusion ] on cracked sidewalks and past plate glass windows grasping at those words - afraid to lay it out bare, in full view. elusivity, poetically speaking - it is beyond what one person can control - often what is believed as the secret to success and james dean cool has nothing to do with what they do and eludes them much the same poetic elusivity - the smoke spiralling from a balcony into the black opine one cigarette ember burning ardent orange into the night while everywhere else blue oceans wash rooms in flickering glows - but here poetic elusivity burns and drifts into the arcane sky as night settles into the city and the whole thing hhhhhssssshhssstthhhhssss between curbs and window blinds. poetic elusivity. p. 2

As a man listening to the forest grow

Why don't we do it the daring things that come to our minds from time to time? By we I mean most of us who live inside boxes bordered by expectations social normalities, the opposite of acting different. What can go wrong for the middle class fear of giving up buying things accumulating stuff the closets bursting the heart empty.

andrew strasburg

It is elusive

andrew strasburg

Writing is elusive, for starters. Someone told me once if you can't sit down and write for hours without hesitation you're not meant for writing. I disagreed with him politely, but later admitted to myself writing isn't easy. Someone else said about art it's a little imagination the rest is hard work.

Dream Doubts |

andrew strasburg

Are dreams our way of giving order to our lives? What does it mean if I cant sleep? What does it mean if you dream of somebody else? Where does it leave us in the morning?

Spice |

sarah wurzburg

I never understood cooking with salt. What does it do? How does it help? It brings out the flavors? Does that make it like make-up, bringing out the beauty in people? Then one finds out about curry, coriander, and cardamom. Those have personality. They are filled with sass, and soul, they sing. Theyre the people Id want to hang out with. The ones you can trust, intimacy is natural because they are who they are, and if you like them then youre fast friends. Id like to be paprika. Maybe these are harder to cook with, but when you what youre doing they change your life. No one ever said that about salt.

p. 4

Bodies on the Street

- sarah wurzburg -

In the past year Ive seen three bodies lying head on the ground with out much movement. The third was while walking home from work the street was blocked off there were police officers with the body, touching his chest, searching his pockets for answers. They stopped traffic to erase the space so the ambulance could draw near. The situation looked helpless, yet they were calm, if Ive seen three, how many have they seen? Its strange you do not want t gawk, but there is an investment in if the body is alive, if it gets up, if it goes to the morgue. There is this fear, heart pumping faster, faster, faster. Everyone wants him to get up, walk away so they can believe in humanity, in something being saved or in the investment in other people through hope, its strangecamaraderie in mass as if it were the Olympics, everyone watching, desperately wishing for this we dont know to get up. It seems if he got up the world would change. Body two was on the street by the bus stop, there were people sitting on the bench, still needing the bus to take them off the corner. One police officer bent down, asking questions, no one knows anything. He touches the back of the head, its red and shiny, like a dull p. 5

Does anyone know where he hit his head? No response, though someone must have called the police. Black jacket, arms at the side, eyes closed, people passing on the left. Eight-thirty in the morning, just before school starts: extremely loud crunch followed by screaming. Teacher pokes head in the door, call the police, get the Principal, a student has been hit. With limited information, I call, speak with the 911 operator to give location, information: student hit by car, close to 15th and Irving, it seems he is still alive. The Principal runs out, intercom the doors will be opened early today. No one should have to watch the body on the street, still, breathing heavy, shirt speckled with splattered glass shards. The driver is a man in an old gray brimmed hat, an educator, spent his life trying to help kids, derailed by hurting one. The school continues through the day, we find out the hospital, connect with the parents, the Principal stays with him so he knows someone. Siblings are somewhere too today. Upper school child, notice written to parents, he will be okay, he is in stable condition.

p. 6

Rules of Elusivity
- chester bennett -

1. have a wildly interesting past 2. have a railroad car story 3. do not be infatuous 4. do not spend luxurious time in public locations 5. only make physical contact when leaving 6. only use alarm clocks with arms 7. never have coffee with breakfast or after dinner 8. never eat anything substantial in the presence of others 9. do not showcase love 10. be shaped to fit slyly into corners, cafes, coatrooms and between cobblestones. 11. do not fill voids simply holler into them and vanish 12. seek out phone booths and stairwells spending 3 minutes in each daily 13. resist intimacy and emotionalism 14. feed emotions to open mouths and hands like candy 15. do not see the same person in consecutive days 16. respond to written communication in no more than 3 sentences + 5 words 17. respond to all questions in confidence 18. do not confuse love and care 19. avoid tangible presence in friend circles and lives 20. read letters in clean well lit cafes 21. walk everywhere 22. do not tip the balance between sincerity and personal amendment twenty-nine: love only ideas.

p. 7

Elusive
- sarah wurzburg -

Being sure about something, anything. Willingness to trust oneself. Ability to accept that there is no right answer. To see what you dont like and get over it. To continue because feeling is irreplaceable. To stop thinking and be ad hoc. Appreciation of occurrence now. Let things go, dwell on the better. Take perfect out of the lexicon of words. Present in enough of reality.

victoria | woodcut | hope clunie

p. 8

allentown, PA | lithograph | hope clunie

Elusive Love
- chester bennett -

elusive emotion born on sunset powerlines we hasten to put our pens on paper to perfect our craft when eyes blink fast and suck fear from the skies brothers. poetasters. love has eluded us gone into the distance where the sun grows young. escapist love that dances and sinks into deep blue oceans with heavy hearted hostages.

p. 9

brothers. poetasters do not give up / take heart / keep faith do not give in to that which has torn into and out of your chest. the elusivity in love / has purpose, to create in us raw emotion. we chase smoldering stars with our words. hear love babble through blasts of floor speakers in arenas. struting under the sheen of stage light during sound checks. then we remember the last time we were in love. consoled with vegass pulse rollicking light thumping our hearts salivating to break us into elusive fractured pieces. that is dangerous. to spiral distracted, in and out of city limits and bounded wilderness. wandering the roads and highways rivers and oceans the living room floor board creaks. yawning and hoping to get a breath of it in our hair. but poetasters take it in all the fearful and flowing glory blessing and cursed. damned and trumpeted. lying in residential roads raked wet and rusting. love | fractured | within its own nature is not something we own. not something to be in - but acknowledged the most elusive emotion | to grace our tip toed tongue |

p. 10

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