Call & Response

Elsie and I are in the process of creating a chapbook of the Postcard Poems we wrote while she was in Bolivia. You may have already read the poems I wrote during this period; if not, they're indexed here. See the poems marked "Novena" (so named because this discipline lasted a little over nine days).

One of the ideas we've had is to pick out our favorites of the other's poems, and write responses to them. Here's a poem Elsie wrote:

Sick all over
Is not an easy feeling
Tried to go to work
My stomach said “No”
The bed tangles my brain.
The air is not enough
Mañana will be better
   8/30/03

Here's my response:

the bed tangles the air
parrots sit shiva on the bricks
sun sleeps through morning

macaw rainbows flit
breath hangs cloudy on the roof
men set beams

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Naturally, this whole thing is in Postcard Format, with art by your correspondent.