Back & Forth On Little York (2023)
300-450 W Little York Rd, Houston TX 77076
by Farrah Fang
Part 1 of 3
pylon project series
Drains history below sewers bayous bodies helicopter paths chiseled light landscape searching
To prosper or halt
Houston is a city of candy paint chariots
Employ your soles to beaten sidewalks
Occasionally patient for METRO buses
marriages to metal
patches of grass
mostly too slighted
layer
curated
alone
but you wander
edges of street
to wait forever
Little York has its own government
From 59 to 290 you have surpassed
The native flowers are mechanic shops
Burned in every Catholic church
Eaten at every Chinese restaurant
Voided of plasma for loose change
Each intersection a moonwalk or concert
The stores shelve your memories from
Collisions and sirens circling humid air
You are cursed to slice off every
Dropped down into plates or yards
Walking barefoot or on all fours
lengthy stretch of prideful concrete
city limits to steal or feast or barter
beauty supplies and fast food chains
on this island
for curry chicken
mistaken for a
for every Ash Wednesday
cooked by young Latinos
vending machine of organs
each home a different pueblo or country
Whataburger meltdowns to parking lot sex
gunshot lullabies to ease into your dreams
beyond freeways or onions
as other to graffiti billboards
the bottom of cerveza bottles
To dream or decay
Massive signs loom high or daunting names or faces become both looking forward at every turn
Farrah Fang (she/her) is a Mexican-American Trans woman, born and raised in Houston, TX. She is a performance artist, digital artist, writer and poet. She has performed readings at Art League Houston, the Aurora Picture Show and Houston City Hall. Fang’s digital artwork has been featured in exhibitions at Sabine Street Studios, Alief Art House and Remezcla’s online exhibition entitled “40 Emerging, Texas-based Artists to Know”. Her performance art has alternated spaces such as the Orange Show Center For Visionary Art, as well as the Houston club scene where Fang has explored the intersections of death, ritual acts and the Trans body. She can be followed on Instagram: @farrahrosefang.