The Accomplishment of Nothing

A poem by Jay Ryan Gobuty

Discordia does not, it turns out, hate everything. Every other week, starting now, we will be sharing a piece of new or gently-used work from an artist who's earned our respect.

This is Fellow Travellers.

For our first instalment, we bring you a poem by Discordia’s late Godfather, Jay Gobuty (namesake of our Jay’s List), a poignant manifesto for why we at Discordia have chosen to do the things we do. There is art that moves us, and there is art that moves alongside us. Let’s go.

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The Accomplishment of Nothing: Notes Toward a Critique of the Outrageous

and We gather around the squalor of the production of unproduction
and The political power of art is to produce nothing useful in a society in which the only value is use
and We engage in solidarity over the synergy of syzygies, sipping cocktails as we loquaciously tongue fuck the Man

but While ink doesn’t read under the smudge of bloodstained hands,
but We say we hate oppression, colonialism, racism, sexism, and high fashion
but We still drink from the $10.99 mini-pitcher of Palestinian blood as we talk about compassion
but Anarchy!
but Solidarity
but Inebriated hilarity!

yet We are the profiteers of global suffering
yet On the margins we are the brackets of domination
yet Without us, they couldn’t mutilate those we claim to defend

for The protest of our unproduction is short sighted
for Capital cares not for those who disengage
for Speech we decline action
for Pleasure we shirk suffering
for The Rhizomatic bio-Poloitik discourse analysis of the truth in the last instance
we bury other people’s young

so Maybe we can do a little more
so Death may not be the manna of our artistic production
so Diatribes and dyad rhymes might feed more than our egos
so The perk of our Outrageous circle jerk could be for others and not for us

nor Are we without our charms
nor Are we without some power
nor Do we have to be afraid to use it
nor Shall contentment with our cleverness continue to be the fruit of our contemptuousness

Fuck guys, we suck, but maybe we don’t have to.

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Editor’s Note: This piece was first performed on stage at the outrageous poetry series in 2016. It was printed along with other previously uncollected pieces in issue 30 of These Days (2024) as part of a tribute to that series, and to Jay. Copies can be purchased from the Horsebroke Press Etsy store.

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JAMES "JAY" RYAN GOBUTY (1990–2024) was a performance artist, literary scholar, and poetry series MC. He was the co-host of Toronto's infamous -outrageous- series, where he helped keep the scene weird by nurturing its countless artistic ne'er-do-wells. He was a close friend and inspiring presence to the Discordia Review staff, as well as an artistic collaborator for our reading series.

Photo by Max Tepper.

Interested in being a Fellow Traveller? Email your poetry, prose, visual art, etc. to discordia.sucks@gmail.com. We pay (not much), and pieces are collected a few times a year in a small print edition.