a poem about writing in a dark room

ode to a pink crustacean underbelly but not Gregor Samsa. 

neglect is the worst death, I think. 

she spoke with her eyelashes and felt with her hair,

like tentacles and synapses and silent films. 

ode to succulents and burnt coffee particles floating to my nostrils but not the unfinished sentence in her high school yearbook. 

she put that bookshelf together and it's still standing, holding up the corner of the wall. 

ode to magic words like moist, primordial, Moroccan, and sinew but not my father's birthday. 

his jacket smelled of leather and grease and I learned to tye knots on his shoes on the the cold-morning floor of the  foyer. 

ode to rollercoasters and goosebumps but not ultragloss magazine spreads or forty story buildings. 

she thought of elevators and made them all silver like rockets or submarines not tunnels or wombs. 

ode to your favorite story but not winter steering wheels or spiced apple cider. 

she kissed your nose for a blank stare and I felt the wettest raindrop sliding on glass, splattering and splitting on my bare, freckled shoulder. 

a poem on a train on a Thursday in an afternoon

simultaneous loss and gain 

of not one but many. she

is you (and also I) while

others and others, always. 

talk to me about feathers

and fishes,

rain on pleather and 

backwards crosses. 

heels and hips and your

grandmother's favorite dress. 

still, I'll be walking 

Wednesday poem 12/4/13

I'll follow your shadow

and brain-sleep sounds. 

impossible to summarize

you are forever halfway done-

a teacup with no tea and

another moon. 

book project, pages 109 and 110

front and back of the 27th photo!

detail: "happiness is the supreme duty of life." 

book project, pages 105 and 106

front and back of the 26th photo

book project, pages 101 and 102

front and back of the 25th photo

detail: "One of them, Betty Wells, added to her other attainments those pertaining to a witch." 

book project, pages 97 and 98

This book is titled 'Women and Other Women' by Hildegarde Hawthorn. These are photos of the 97th and 98th pages, the front and back of the 24th photo. I'm hand-sewing the photographs into the book, correlating the image with the text on the page. (The text is painted over, but is not opaque.) When you flip through the book, you see the image, the stitching a, and the back/reverse stitchings, which are often more interesting than the fronts. 

Sewing is traditionally a Woman's task, as is the time spent sewing. White paint is used on house interiors to cover up things that shouldn't be seen. Women are constantly in relation to Other Women. 

detail: "It makes a fascinating record, brimful of human nature, not by any means destitute of human feelings, nor yet of lovely and gentle traits."

book project, pages 93 and 94

This book is titled 'Women and Other Women' by Hildegarde Hawthorn. These are photos of the 93rd and 94th pages, the front and back of the 24th photo. I'm hand-sewing the photographs into the book, correlating the image with the text on the page. (The text is painted over, but is not opaque.) When you flip through the book, you see the image, the stitching a, and the back/reverse stitchings, which are often more interesting than the fronts. 

Sewing is traditionally a Woman's task, as is the time spent sewing. White paint is used on house interiors to cover up things that shouldn't be seen. Women are constantly in relation to Other Women. 

detail: "It turned upon the elopement of a married woman from a husband who was impossibly bad with a lover who was impossibly good, and under the chaperone of an aunt"

book project, pages 89 and 90

This book is titled 'Women and Other Women' by Hildegarde Hawthorn. These are photos of the 89th and 90th pages, the front and back of the 23rd photo. I'm hand-sewing the photographs into the book, correlating the image with the text on the page. (The text is painted over, but is not opaque.) When you flip through the book, you see the image, the stitching a, and the back/reverse stitchings, which are often more interesting than the fronts. 

Sewing is traditionally a Woman's task, as is the time spent sewing. White paint is used on house interiors to cover up things that shouldn't be seen. Women are constantly in relation to Other Women. 

detail: "He is a continual surprise, and no matter how often you think you've got him, he slips away. His personality is, as it were, everywhere; his identity nowhere." 

book project, pages 85 and 86

This book is titled 'Women and Other Women' by Hildegarde Hawthorn. These are photos of the 85th and 86th pages, the front and back of the 22nd photo. I'm hand-sewing the photographs into the book, correlating the image with the text on the page. (The text is painted over, but is not opaque.) When you flip through the book, you see the image, the stitching a, and the back/reverse stitchings, which are often more interesting than the fronts. 

Sewing is traditionally a Woman's task, as is the time spent sewing. White paint is used on house interiors to cover up things that shouldn't be seen. Women are constantly in relation to Other Women. 

detail: "We never go back, never really and absolutely."

book project, pages 81 and 82

This book is titled 'Women and Other Women' by Hildegarde Hawthorn. These are photos of the 81st and 82nd pages, the front and back of the 21st photo. I'm hand-sewing the photographs into the book, correlating the image with the text on the page. (The text is painted over, but is not opaque.) When you flip through the book, you see the image, the stitching a, and the back/reverse stitchings, which are often more interesting than the fronts. 

Sewing is traditionally a Woman's task, as is the time spent sewing. White paint is used on house interiors to cover up things that shouldn't be seen. Women are constantly in relation to Other Women. 

detail: "with how many different hopes, desires, and ambitions"

book project, pages 77 and 78

This book is titled 'Women and Other Women' by Hildegarde Hawthorn. These are photos of the 77th and 78th pages, the front and back of the 20th photo. I'm hand-sewing the photographs into the book, correlating the image with the text on the page. (The text is painted over, but is not opaque.) When you flip through the book, you see the image, the stitching a, and the back/reverse stitchings, which are often more interesting than the fronts. 

Sewing is traditionally a Woman's task, as is the time spent sewing. White paint is used on house interiors to cover up things that shouldn't be seen. Women are constantly in relation to Other Women. 

book project, pages 73 and 74

This book is titled 'Women and Other Women' by Hildegarde Hawthorn. These are photos of the 73rd and 74th pages, the front and back of the 19th photo. I'm hand-sewing the photographs into the book, correlating the image with the text on the page. (The text is painted over, but is not opaque.) When you flip through the book, you see the image, the stitching a, and the back/reverse stitchings, which are often more interesting than the fronts. 

Sewing is traditionally a Woman's task, as is the time spent sewing. White paint is used on house interiors to cover up things that shouldn't be seen. Women are constantly in relation to Other Women. 

detail: "She is a shrewd and keen observer, with a sharp tongue and a love of gossip. Her letters are filled with news, by which she invariably means scandal. By a lack of tact and a fondness for what she terms plain-speaking, she managed to get into a good deal of trouble of one sort and another. She is, indeed, a very human person, thoroughly interested in the haps and mishaps of those who make up her world." 

book project, pages 69 and 70

This book is titled 'Women and Other Women' by Hildegarde Hawthorn. These are photos of the 69th and 70th pages, the front and back of the 18th photo. I'm hand-sewing the photographs into the book, correlating the image with the text on the page. (The text is painted over, but is not opaque.) When you flip through the book, you see the image, the stitching a, and the back/reverse stitchings, which are often more interesting than the fronts. 

Sewing is traditionally a Woman's task, as is the time spent sewing. White paint is used on house interiors to cover up things that shouldn't be seen. Women are constantly in relation to Other Women. 

detail: "'I can esteem, I can be a friend, but I don't know whether I can love.'"

book project, pages 65 and 66

This book is titled 'Women and Other Women' by Hildegarde Hawthorn. These are photos of the 65th and 66th pages, the front and back of the 17th photo. I'm hand-sewing the photographs into the book, correlating the image with the text on the page. (The text is painted over, but is not opaque.) When you flip through the book, you see the image, the stitching a, and the back/reverse stitchings, which are often more interesting than the fronts. 

Sewing is traditionally a Woman's task, as is the time spent sewing. White paint is used on house interiors to cover up things that shouldn't be seen. Women are constantly in relation to Other Women. 

detail: "Pope's Lady Mary" handwritten- "June 1957"

book project, pages 61 and 62

This book is titled 'Women and Other Women' by Hildegarde Hawthorn. These are photos of the 61st and 62nd pages, the front and back of the 16th photo. I'm hand-sewing the photographs into the book, correlating the image with the text on the page. (The text is painted over, but is not opaque.) When you flip through the book, you see the image, the stitching a, and the back/reverse stitchings, which are often more interesting than the fronts. 

Sewing is traditionally a Woman's task, as is the time spent sewing. White paint is used on house interiors to cover up things that shouldn't be seen. Women are constantly in relation to Other Women. 

detail: "A group of women would make a sorry spectacle in competition with a set of men"

book project, pages 57 and 58

This book is titled 'Women and Other Women' by Hildegarde Hawthorn. These are photos of the 57th and 58th pages, the front and back of the 15th photo. I'm hand-sewing the photographs into the book, correlating the image with the text on the page. (The text is painted over, but is not opaque.) When you flip through the book, you see the image, the stitching a, and the back/reverse stitchings, which are often more interesting than the fronts. 

Sewing is traditionally a Woman's task, as is the time spent sewing. White paint is used on house interiors to cover up things that shouldn't be seen. Women are constantly in relation to Other Women. 

detail: "There has in fact been developed a peculiar code of morals to cover the peculiar case of woman. This may be called a morality of the person and of the bodily habits, as contrasted with the commercial and public morality of man." 

book project, pages 53 and 54

This book is titled 'Women and Other Women' by Hildegarde Hawthorn. These are photos of the 53rd and 54th pages, the front and back of the 14th photo. I'm hand-sewing the photographs into the book, correlating the image with the text on the page. (The text is painted over, but is not opaque.) When you flip through the book, you see the image, the stitching a, and the back/reverse stitchings, which are often more interesting than the fronts. 

Sewing is traditionally a Woman's task, as is the time spent sewing. White paint is used on house interiors to cover up things that shouldn't be seen. Women are constantly in relation to Other Women. 

detail: "the great reservoir of human knowledge" 

book project, pages 49 and 50

This book is titled 'Women and Other Women' by Hildegarde Hawthorn. These are photos of the 49th and 50th pages, the front and back of the 13th photo. I'm hand-sewing the photographs into the book, correlating the image with the text on the page. (The text is painted over, but is not opaque.) When you flip through the book, you see the image, the stitching a, and the back/reverse stitchings, which are often more interesting than the fronts. 

Sewing is traditionally a Woman's task, as is the time spent sewing. White paint is used on house interiors to cover up things that shouldn't be seen. Women are constantly in relation to Other Women. 

detail: "And if he who plants a tree shall be called blessed, how about she who makes a garden?" 

book project, pages 45 and 46

This book is titled 'Women and Other Women' by Hildegarde Hawthorn. These are photos of the 45th and 46th pages, the front and back of the 12th photo. I'm hand-sewing the photographs into the book, correlating the image with the text on the page. (The text is painted over, but is not opaque.) When you flip through the book, you see the image, the stitching a, and the back/reverse stitchings, which are often more interesting than the fronts. 

Sewing is traditionally a Woman's task, as is the time spent sewing. White paint is used on house interiors to cover up things that shouldn't be seen. Women are constantly in relation to Other Women. 

book project, pages 41 and 42

This book is titled 'Women and Other Women' by Hildegarde Hawthorn. These are photos of the 41st and 42nd pages, the front and back of the 11th photo. I'm hand-sewing the photographs into the book, correlating the image with the text on the page. (The text is painted over, but is not opaque.) When you flip through the book, you see the image, the stitching a, and the back/reverse stitchings, which are often more interesting than the fronts. 

Sewing is traditionally a Woman's task, as is the time spent sewing. White paint is used on house interiors to cover up things that shouldn't be seen. Women are constantly in relation to Other Women.