Three Body Problem

by Griffin Rockwell

Three stanzas overlayed on a series of swirling lines. From top to bottom: 1) Transcript: ii. evolving position: Take steps. Make steps. Break / patterns of embodiment. The body / becomes a body becomes a body. / The problem isn't me. It's all of you / watching. After all—doesn't every / ( ) change when observed? 2) Transcript: i. initial conditions: untenable unbearable undone / this body / misread misunderstood mystery / bodiless not a wish / a prayer if i can't become ( ) / let me un make this / body 3) Description: iii. acceleration and gravity: the phrase "body becomes a body becomes a body" is overlayed so many times it is almost unreadable. at the bottom of the stanza the line changes to "becomes a self remains a self reclaims a self"
Another series of three stanzas overlayed on a series of squiggles. From top to bottom: 1) Transcript: the body: authentic algorithmic agnostic / diagnostic diagrammatic diegetic / plastic panoramic / iconic iconoclastic / eccentric electric 2) Description: the line "body becomes a body becomes a body" returns in the similar overlay, eventually turning into repeating lines that read simply "choices choices choices choices" and "changes changes changes changes" 3) Transcript: The body a series of mistranslations. / The body a series of indications. / The body a series of calculations. / The body becomes a body becomes / a ( ) when observed. Its changes / become choices that cannot be / taken back.
The third image of this piece, another set of three stanzas overlaying a set of squiggles. 1) Transcript: The body becomes a series of / small choices. Make and break / and take. Each step a journey / observed. And yet—the body / persists. The body resists. / It becomes a ( ) that will / not succumb to the gravity / of the world around it, / but make its own gravity. 2) Description: the overlapping lines from the previous page ("choices choices choices choices / changes changes changes changes") continue to overlap in style, but the line changes first to "un breakable un breakable" then to "persist resist persist resist" while continuing to overlap 3) Transcript: a ( ) / body / a body / ( ) / un masked / un made / un mistakable

Griffin Rockwell (xe/they) is a queer poet and essayist. The author of three chapbooks, their work has also appeared in AGNI, Okay Donkey, Santa Fe Review, Poet Lore, Whale Road Review, HAD, and elsewhere. Xe received xer MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and their MLitt from the University of Dundee. Find xer website and socials at https://linktr.ee/griffinrockwell.