Mock Beagle Hunt

Artist Statement

In New York I was not seeking to become a pet parent but Atom the beagle found me and taught me the finer tenants of interspecies love. When the human romance that brought him into my life dissolved, Atom also left. When I play this video my current beagle Cesar goes nuts because they were brothers for eight months. The scene is my backyard in Detroit where I would grow vegetables and do a bad job at landscaping. We moved to Detroit so I could fill a position as a technical writer for a renewable energy company. When Atom was brought to Astoria Queens New York from Quartz Hill California he chewed up the vintage hats that were going to be the uniform of my newfound life, as I was chasing him around the house infuriated, I had a drastic personality change realizing the absurdity of taking an animal's behavior personally. I also felt that the dog was teaching me in companion to my undergraduate studies. How could I have the most meaningful relationship of my life with a creature with no grasp of meaning. The poem appears in Cold War Kids which I co-authored with my brother Jakub Olesiak in 2011. The video was shot on an iphone4. 

Karol Olesiak is a disabled queer poet, writer, and activist. He is a graduate of Eugene Lang Liberal Arts College at The New School and an MFA graduate of The University of San Francisco. As a Navy sailor, he commissioned the USS Ronald Reagan, navigated the straits of Magellan, and served in the Persian Gulf. In 2011 Karol headlined The Bowery Poetry Club in New York. That same year he became a staunch supporter of The Occupy Wall Street Movement and became entrenched in the Occupy network of affinity groups. Karol founded SoldiersForTheCause.org and became an antiwar activist. He has written many political essays and has been translated into Spanish. Karol's poetry has been incorporated into cinematography and sound art. KarolOlesiak.com