The Correspondent’s Cheeks
dear ones,
Since August 2023, I’ve had the honor of corresponding with Seattle-based poet Rachel Edelman. Exactly a year later, the first twelve letters from our exchange have been published by AGNI.
The publication takes its title from a correspondence between two rabbis in the 16th century: “The Correspondent’s Cheeks Are as a Bed of Spices.”
I’m linking the full piece below, which includes images of our handwritten letters, a typed transcript, and an audio recording of Rachel and I reading the letters aloud.
“What does it mean to belong to a place?” I ask Rachel, “And what if that belonging skips a generation?”
Our handwritten exchange continues. In fact, Rachel placed another letter in the mail just this week. We have yet to meet in person.
Yours in poems,
emet
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poems:
The Gallery by Catherine Pond
Lava Lakes and Petrified Forests in the Afterlife by Dara Wier
Blue Like a Desert by Joyce Mansour, translated from the French by Gaelle Raphael
Creatures Abandoned by Time by Jackie Wang
Hagar in the Wilderness (and two other poems) by Tyehimba Jess
A Page Pounded Clean by Kathryn Scanlan (short story)
events, etc:
Radio! Radio! Poetry Radio! On Wednesday, August 7th, a. Monti and I went live with ALL SAINTS POETRY HOUR. I’ve always loved radio. The erotics of a voice crooning out from a speaker. We read poems by some of our favorite poets and played mystical tracks from Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam, Ethiopian composer, pianist, and nun. You can listen to a recording of our show below via Refuge Worldwide:
On Friday, August 23rd, at 19:00h, I’ll be reading at the LCB alongside fellow recipients of the 2024 Berlin Literature Stipend. I plan to read a new poem from my manuscript, generously translated into German by the talented Lotta Thießen.
