Artist Statement

The lowercase “I” without end 
punctuation. The artist comes from 
a company town. The artist swam 
in its polluted river. This will be good. 
The blank page is a canvas. Be more 
specific. The corporate histories 
that could be written here, unwind. 
The states of state are mined and under 
-mined. Don’t escape from here. 
The artist’s identity politics start 
to thin out. There is no discussing 
the artist’s philosophies—2D collage, 
mixed media aesthetics. Each page 
is a thirst trap hinged on diaspora. 
An exoticized mural covering the wall 
of a hyphen-American restaurant. 
Each reference is a wandering. 

Copyright © 2024 by Tarik Dobbs. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on July 30, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets. 

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“This is a poem about an uncertain self during a coming of age, about understanding one’s influences, and also about attending art school. And if you know, you know.”
—Tarik Dobbs