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Likestarlings is a place for talking in poems. We pair poets with poets and they write a sequence of six new works by responding in turn to one another. Our palaver blog goes beyond poetry to discuss collaboration in theory and in practice. Please take a look, and feel free to add comments, opinions and suggestions here. Read poems here
 

Dear K,


I’m not sure about this.
I got a birthday card from my ex.

‘Hope your 30th birthday / is extra special.’

(That’s an exact quote.)
I liked the use of ‘eyehigh’

in your poem – it’s so relative. We
went to the Galapagos together.

I didn’t expect you to get that, though.
What should I make of your poem –

this process – it’s all so impersonal. What do we
leave out of history? I had a dream

and woke up with the lines,
The dreary humdak lopes a closing loop

through the woods / chainsaws buzz
a bird song, and this:

“armchairs torn apart.”

I want to add:

like queer ground
like dropout sea
like bitch house

there’s a solid weight
at the end of the rope,

you just have to hope
because you can’t be sure

it’s not around a throat
when you pull.