Acquisition: an index

Afton Wilky

Acquisition: an index is an excerpt from a book-length essay, Reservoir, which tells the story of Arthur Lee and Lillian Mae Gibson, two people displaced by the building and arbitration of Milford Lake in Kansas (the largest human-made body of water in the state). Piecing narrative together from newspaper articles, an archaeological report and a box of documents belonging to the Gibsons, Acquisition: an index examines the process of taking possession in both an archival and more general sense.

“They stood where Milford Lake would stand. A reserve to the point of bursting.

She stood where Milford Lake would stand a reserve to the point of bursting to the point of bursting a reserve which would stand where she stood.

He stood where Milford Lake would stand reserved to the point of bursting.”

AFTON WILKY is a multi-disciplinary artist. Her work combines writing with sound, digital media and book arts. She is the author of Clarity Speaks of a Crystal Sea (Flim Forum Press, 2014). Her work is in or forthcoming from journals such as Black Warrior Review, [out of nothing], Siren, TAB, textsound, Word for/Word and Jacket2. She is the managing editor of The Volta.

Her website and blog are at aftonwilky.com.