Keeping the X is a collection of poems that Laura-Marie Taylor and I wrote and exchanged as winter gifts from 2009 to 2017. The poems are based on thematic prompts we offered each other. Tracking the exchange through time, this book offers a window into the playful and tender friendship between two poets.

From “song” by Laura-Marie Taylor:

For everything I bring in,
something’s got to go out.
Loose ends tie themselves,
pretend maps direct me
to plastic treasure.

From “Distance in Metaphor” by Ellen Redbird:

When I see you coming,
I want you to crash into me.
But I’m all lit up like a
medical building
near an airport.

*****
Over 50 pages of poetry and drawings

Pyriform Press Catalog: www.pyriformpress.com/pyriform/catalog