Michaels & Bookstaber – August 2020

Anna Bookstaber and Leah Michaels traded art and words. Leah shared this image, titled “Dare,” with Anna:

In response, Anna wrote this poem:

Defy

I hear the chant they recite for the dead
Bells in the distance, take turns with the shovel
The sky becomes red
Do I dare follow this road to its end?
Portals open in my bedroom
A curse falls away, stone settles in its place
There’s nothing to prove
Do I dare see the satellites through?
Once a stranger told me today was my day
Resurrection in lieu of flowers, breathe static not air
Everlong, I do not stay
For life is but a prolonged dare

* * * * *
Anna shared this poem with Leah:

Ego Birth

Tied was my thread of life
on that October morning
a songbird sings behind the clouds
a shrike sings its warning
celestial bodies unweaving
void of feeling, void of collusion
for it would be deceiving
to sew this veil of delusion
with my honey sweet phrases
shifting slowly like the phases
from the glowing beacon,
the vicious angel
who breaks darkness of the faithful
of those who never ate my words
inscribed in ink onto the earth
who am I but a formless figure
of unknown reasons
a falsified scripture
for what does it mean to sanctify
what we cannot comprehend
evilness has its way with words
dusted onto what we call friends
our saviors are serial killers
blood spills onto the table
what does it mean to be faithful?
living in the lie of those who are thankful
for what the dark has blinded us to
and what the light chooses to show
what is good
when all we know is evil
when my thread of life was tied
the songbird is shot down and dies
on my kitchen floor
its song is ringing in my ears
ringing until forever’s no more

In response, Leah made this image, titled “Ego & The Vicious Angel”: