Bibbe Hansen
Art by David Gilbert
David Gilbert, Constellations, 2021, color photograph, 85 x 57 in
Holly
more richly lush than a
Hollywood lawn
with the courage of Callas
dangerously infamous as any 14 pirates
Saturday morning siren smiles
late night hustles in bad hotels
our lives renewed with
Sunday brunch
giraffes laughing
snooty ladies in snoods
you struck a mood,
i have yet to shake
a chord I still strain to hear
and a fancy I will never let go
David Gilbert, Sky Spill, 2020, color photogaph, 50 x 33 in
Mario
At Mario’s Dance School
for debs in the making
pinky finger teacups tilt just so
to slide all the love down
in one small neat swallow.
You, more arch and poised
than any classless rich girl
Your grace-filled glance
more treasured than
a thousand paychecks
We still applaud your coming out
What a party it was!
What a jewel you were!
And your smile,
suffused with secret shy delight
Courting the camera and us
Then, a sudden hush
I glanced up
and you were gone
Slipped through the trees
Into the breeze
… away from us again
Sleep sweet, beautiful soul.
Te queremos para siempre
David Gilbert, Solar System, 2023, color photograph, 10 x 7 in
Jonas
pullback slow pan reveal: the wilds of Central Park
feral street kid me, playing country girl for a day
you show her how to see the sky without a rooftop
to glimpse the fire of the sun
through the fluttering deep green leaves of a tree
light and sky making the eye dance in dappled light
you teach her to taste the sweet end of a long blade of timothy grass
and hold it between the teeth as a young Lithuanian cow boy might
St Jonas, the Protector of the most fragile of relics
bits of emulsion and celluloid
cavorting on the collective human consciousness
you, the art warrior, now ridden to Valhalla
we light candles and pray our courage will marry your fierce unrelenting devotion
to the flickering eternal images of human connection and longing
framing the flame of our essence
essential fractals of universal indulgence, whimsy,
the embodiment, personification, of a kernel of self
invisible memories from childhood
at one with the whole body of things
observed, assumed, here for us
You taught us poetry in a projected image
ecstasy in a single frame
to treasure these fragments of paradise
to defend and protect, cherish and preserve, that which is good
to trust our angels
David Gilbert, Gone Girl, 2018, color photograph, 42 x 27 in
Dorothy
Mistress Dorothy,
Dean of the school
of all things proper
Prim to the rim and
brim full of
three-martini lunches
and too many brunches
for suppers to count
Dragulas in tow
wrapped in a bow
with a cigarette flick
you down it
like a drought’s
About to hit
No doubt
you’d out-snit
any ten of us twits
I long sometimes
to hear your
waspish buzz
the way it was
alas
Ms. Dottie Doom
has left the room
David Gilbert, Glow, 2018, color photograph, 30 x 20 in
John
Dialing a poem from Beyond
for the late greatest John Giorno
Send me some lines
to mine your heart for Old Gold
to conjure the twinkle in your eye
and the love and laughter in
your painted poet words
Post-dream I got a dial tone at dawn
Good morning dear
John Day, Bon Giorno
John Giorno
You got everyone to pay
for all our words
Thank you
and Good Night
Hope you are resting in peace
or getting a piece
whatever suits your afterlife longings
May they be filled to the brim
as we still drink from your cup
and will ‘til time
is up
Fall / Winter 2023
Bibbe Hansen
Bibbe Hansen is a veteran of Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory and the 1960’s NY experimental theater and film underground. She is the daughter of Fluxus and Happenings artist Al Hansen, and the mother of visual artist Channing Hansen, pop musician Beck, and poet Rain Whittaker. She lives in Hudson, New York.
David Gilbert
David Gilbert is an artist based in Los Angeles. Gilbert stages vignettes in the studio, and the resulting photographs capture a studied airiness and grace alongside moments of true spontaneity and accident. In the February 2019 issue of Artforum, Wayne Koestenbaum wrote Gilbert is “a photographer whose beat is the afterlife as it takes place now, in this studio, this room, among these bedclothes and paint stains and wigs and strings” in a feature about his work. He is represented by Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles; Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York; and Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco.