Miriam Saperstein

Work

Incantations Against Empire 
Handwritten text that forms an inwards spiral: FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE, SPEEDILY AND IN OUR DAYS! By the enduring depths of the Unending One Who Rested, may Shabbat seal each Anti-Zionist who takes on righteous action and takes on this protection—seal each and all of us with protection and endurance. May our descendants endure for us, and may our bodies endure for us, and may our sacred life-ways—older and deeper than any Zionist co-optation of Judaism—endure for us. May no tormentor harm, co-opt, or surveil us, by the name of El Maleh Rachamim, by the names of ancestors in their resistance & acts of visionary creation in the face of empire (may it fall) by the name of Rabbi Tarfon, who taught that we are not obligated to complete the work, and neither are we free to desist from it, teaching us to reject saviorism and each commit to our part, by the names of three opshprekherkes, exorcists around a stone who sent the evil eye back to whence it came, teaching us to send despair back to gum up the works of neoliberal business as usual, by the names we know ourselves by in rest, and the names within geologictime, in the names of the waters of life and the ever-evolving, cross-time conversations, who teach us all is connected & fortifying us with the cosmic capacity to hold our collective grief—I beswear you, demons of despair (They call you individualizing our survival. They call you perfectionism and avoidance. They call you incentives & intimidation to turn away, the guise of objectivity, the misdirection of attention away from stopping genocide. They call you colonization, imperialism, & white supremacy. They call you Zionism.) I adjure you and beswear you EVIL SPIRITS that you should dissolve, dissipate, unwind your grip from our tongues, veins, lungs, and the collective tissue of our movements. Reveal to us the tendrils of empire that grasp at our prayers and souls with bad-faith accusations. Extricate these demons from us. As we dive into the no and all time of Shabbat, may we be nourished & emerge transformed. May we be OBLIGATED TO OUR GRIEF and love. Bind us to each other in righteous, effective action that sustains the web of life. FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE.

"FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE, SPEEDILY AND IN OUR DAYS!" Footnotes, The Poetry Project

incantation in the shape of an eye. instead of a pupil, there is a demon made of letters.

"A Good Eye," Grotto Journal

"demon bound with handwritten words (illegible) and coming from its body are rays made of words inscreasing in size ""uncarry unwind untouch untrust unyearn unburry untwist unsnag unleap uncourt unattach unsex unlike unswerve unsalt unheat unlearn uncause unwant untaste untease untangle unflower unset o the sexuality of it all"" the rays are bound by links of text ""so that lilit may not"""

"Demon Shout," Grotto Journal

"Incantation Bowl, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology," text/form by Miriam Saperstein; designed, typeset and printed by The Index.

"Incantation for a Trans Forever," the Healing Verse Poetry Line, Philadelphia Contemporary

decomposition and eco grief 
Against a maroon background, a branching river made of white tissue paper with blue stains flows, full of debris. The debris- bits of tangled string, tinsel, tiny leaves— twists alongside paper nazars. Part of the debris is magnified under a scratched plastic magnifying lens.

"From the River," in smoke and mold

Collage using dried plant materials, sequins, tissue paper, colorful translucent plastic and hand written text and drawings on paper. The text is handwritten on curved strips of yellow paper. “When the air pollution gets bad, my bones ache,” curves between a collage using botanical materials that looks like two lungs or a head of garlic, and a grey and blue cloud with rough texture. The next strip says “and a fog sweeps in.” Below this, a billowy yellow strip says, “I yearn to regain my strength so I can walk by the creek.” Directly underneath, another strip says, “ She, too, is poisoned, downstream of a superfund site.” And another, “I’m stuck in bed for days” reaches the edge of the page, curving over a drawing of a fat purple figure in bed, with a yellow translucent plastic sheet over the image. The bottom of the collage is of a river, which flows left to right, diminishing to a smaller stream. The river has currents made of tissue, green plastic, iridescent ribbon and a bank of sequin shells and dried flowers. At the base of the river bank, the same sleeping figure is painted purple and gold, sleeping with an arm cradling their head. The bottom text on yellow paper says “I wish I could lay in the creek bed” and “but we’re both too sick for that.”

"Creek Bed," in smoke and mold

"decomposition hat" in ctrl + v

"God Talk," Timber 13.2 (cover feature)

Leaf//Fate for "The Fates of Dead Leaves that Fall Into Streams," Syllabus

Ritualized Yearning

"Girl Sports," Discount Guillotine

"Holy Weirdos," Discount Guillotine

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