1           What should exist?

We are asking residents to give us their views on the existence of objects and ideas. the rot has set in and did long ago. We are aware of the recent proliferation of monuments, street names, buildings, and plaques. and we have just begun to smell the festering of mould. Their arrival into our consciousness. seeping from where the bodies held in stasis. Their tearing into the mind. lying in their           excrement within the creaking bowels. Their profoundly shocking representation of the past. of a ship. Is distressing for some. gone gone sounds the bell of time. Recent global events have brought to light that more things exist than we are conscious of. the sound reminds us of the law of cause and effect. And that there are things that exist deep within us that are yet to be known. and the aimless miseries caused. They exist as ghosts. and yet a nostalgic yearning. In our relics and in the stone walls of our houses. for the object that has appeared to us all           all at once. In our hearts. In our thoughts. as if causeless. In the alcoves of our bodies in the cleft of bone, sheltered from the rain. as if           in its own time. In our language. In our ideals. In our blood. the time breached by its arm with a           club. In our whispered words behind closed doors. a feathered skirt. Please be considerate of others during this process. a blackened wood. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but opinions are like weeds, they can go unnoticed. They spread to every corner. red lips. black skin. Then their roots are discovered, growing through the foundations of our town. 

1           Background

Society glorifies itself in the object. the creaking belly of the bowels of the rot, hear the wood crack and creak. The materials: timber, metals such as bronze, gold leaf, egg tempera, the materials of the object, iron, steel, alloys, and so on, are more than the sum of their parts. signalling the fated collapse of reasonable discourse           and still the minute hand rounds the one, two, three. The only Jack Clock movement in Gloucestershire. more rot coming           the collapse of the idea           of the restoration of history as it was seen. The conservation efforts to restore such an object cost many fold its material value. consciousness impacted by the figure black and tenuous           slippery and solid. The conservation of the object is a statement towards the object's actual value. remade and made again           a decade down a decade past and it appears in the mind. It says that the society vouches for the object. as a shock. It says of the object, and the idea that it represents, this should exist.

1           Statues, place names, and monuments

We have put together a panel of community representatives, councillors, and historians. a view of duty           round the hour           the turn of the head the strike. We put the question to the panel: What Should Exist? day and night. The panel met in a place they call home. this was once a dream           a hope           the search for legacy. The panel will consider your opinions on the object whilst remembering that this place is home. a personal glory           mechanical imagination           constructed the blackamoor. The panel has considered the echo of this room. boys and girls learn to tell the time, Black, they say           I go to The Black Boy. The panel has an unquenchable desire for outrage. a building on Castle street. An unquenchable desire because we have seen nothing amiss in the alcove. don’t destroy the monuments. The acoustics of the room are perfect for a good discussion and resolution. stop fiddling with the archives. The panel believes that good things can be done in this room, in the town hall, within the four walls. life is           so blank without           the aspiration of fortunes           promised by the distant islands of sugar cane. The panel has met. two fingers to the chest           forget the rot. The panel is deliberating. made in the height of the trade. The panel is listening. of Black boys. The panel is wasting our time and money. limped and lumped. The panel is who are they anyway? crick, I blasted through you. The panel is reviewing all statues, place names, and monuments. creak, the galley awash with blood and a hole of vomit, excrement beneath. We don’t want to lose our history. crack, the fated collapse of rotten wood. The panel is reviewing all arguments and wrongs present and past. We are reviewing your responses. 

1           un-Conservation

But nothing has happened. forlorn and gone           gone           gone sounds the bell. They have an insatiable desire for destruction. why should it exist? For us it’s a loss. Seventy-seven per cent agreed but nothing. it will be radically           un-conserved. We are waiting. a plaque erected. For an empty alcove we won’t leave it to rot. one rainy day and it is gone. We oppose the removal of history. Not idols of slavery. Not nostalgic relics. why should it exist? Because it is eighteenth century in style. gone gone gone sounds the bell. Black Boy. Red Lips. made in the height of the trade. It remains a rare piece. It remains. it is gone.