– featuring Levinas

i.

While firemen worked to get Kanye out,

he talked with his mother on the phone —
“Ma … Ma, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I hurt myself.”

ii.

The airbag had not deployed and his head had smashed against the steering wheel.
His mother got on a plane.

there is first the very uprightness of the face, its upright exposure, without defense

He was swollen.
He was indistinguishable.

this gaze is precisely the epiphany of the face as a face

His mother wrote of how she controlled her expressions,
how she told his girlfriend how to behave.

the epiphany of the face is ethical

Women are familiar with how not to scare
someone who’s in danger.

iii.

The plastic surgeon was a bit of eye candy
his mother wrote.

the face … formulates the first word

It might be love, or attraction, or
humanity.

iv.

Kanye, you must have a relationship with your reflection I can’t understand.
To structure, to surgery, to form.

in the access to the face there is certainly also an access to the idea of God

How did they put you together again?
How did you feel when someone saw you who didn’t know

you had ever looked like someone other
than yourself?

in the access to the face there is certainly also an access to the idea of God

The metal plate in your chin follows the bone.
The metal plate in your chin might ache.

v.

Regardless of his face, Kanye is not always treated like a man.