2 Poems by James Kelly Quigley & Taylor Cornelius
[When we preserve ourselves]
When we preserve ourselves we also preserve the idea of a world without people.
Disease is only spelled once per year.
My favorite type of disease is fleeting and overwhelming because I narrowly escaped death.
Sometimes when I breathe I remember the particles that permeate your lungs when you sigh.
This is just the beginning of a pronouncement that I refuse to obey.
[The drums sounded lush]
The drums sounded lush
but I was stoned so who knows.
Picante sauce and Madonna
thrum in my esophagus
while an old-growth forest
expounds on clouds and the cantilever.
Carry me in your mouth like
a worm in an apple
I don’t mind dark spaces
or the suggestions of Jerry Garcia
I just want to be a moth
or a worm or whatever the fuck
looks best on my résumé.
Au revoir, bang, splash.
A note about the collaboration:
PROCESS NOTES:
“[When we preserve ourselves]” was written so long ago that we can’t remember how we did it.
“[The drums sounded lush]” was written by trading one line at a time.
James Kelly Quigley is engaged to the poet Taylor Cornelius.
Taylor Cornelius is engaged to the poet James Kelly Quigley.
PROCESS NOTES:
“[When we preserve ourselves]” was written so long ago that we can’t remember how we did it.
“[The drums sounded lush]” was written by trading one line at a time.
James Kelly Quigley is engaged to the poet Taylor Cornelius.
Taylor Cornelius is engaged to the poet James Kelly Quigley.