JUSTIN ALLEN

When I say DMV I mean Northern Virginia

In a rec center court up in Sterling
a Black boy skirts the mosh pit, timid where
limbs cleave air, violent white boy ballet, windup—
swing! Other arms shield, contain the surge like
constriction or caution. Can you feel it?

Teh

A typo adapts, isolates your grasp
from your glossary. Silly how clumsy—
JK you just don't get it. We see you,
wedged up in our snarl. We giggle, you fall.
You come to and look up, we've walked away.

Keep driving

Who knew Northern Virginia was this south
of any other suburban expanse.
In the food court our small talk discerns scope;
the architecture, the distance between
us and every other suburb like us.

Justin Allen experiments with performance, writing, linguistics, and the still and moving image to understand our relationships to time, social context, and place. Originally trained as a tap dancer, his performances combine dance, music, and performance art, while his writing spans all genres. He has performed at Performance Space New York and Brooklyn Museum with frequent collaborator Devin Kenny, and performed solo work at Movement Research at the Judson Church, JACK, and ISSUE Project Room, among other venues. He has read his poetry, fiction, and nonfiction at venues such as The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church, Kampnagel (Hamburg, Germany), and Artists Space. His work has received support from Franklin Furnace, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and The Shed.