parotechnics

  This essay was written for a special issue of Art India called What Keeps You Awake At Night   Questions are curious things. Except when they’re not.   If there is one question that rings out a death knell in the world of dating (amorous, not historical) it is this: “tell me about you” (most commonly asked by men). It is as if the questioner has no confidence in a question’s poetic ability   to make a connection bloom “as Spring opens (touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose.”   As if, unable to bear the ambiguity of a moment that might go in any direction, the asker puts the onus on the other person to reveal themselves and prove they are in fact worthy of attention. It is a faux question, its missing question mark hinting at the absence of what makes a question most potent and alive: curiosity. Curiosity is vulnerable and open. It says I want to know about you, rather than, prove that you are worth listening to.   Quite like it, is 2023’s domina