Carrigan & Cormier — February 2025

Melissa Penley Cormier and Alex Carrigan traded art and words. Melissa shared this untitled image with Alex:

In response, Alex wrote this poem:

Pantoum for the Weight I Carry

I tried to carry the earth with me.
I thought I could hide it under my nails.
Grain after grain of soil fell as I walked
until all that was left was a glove of dust.

I thought I could hide it under my nails,
that no one would know I stowed it away.
All that was left was a glove of dust
by the time I made it back home.

No one would know I stowed the earth away;
no one was left to notice me now.
By the time I made it back home,
I remembered he was still back at the plot.

No one was left to notice him now,
just one stone among hundreds.
He is still back at the plot,
no one but me to visit him.

He’s just one stone among hundreds,
so I tried to carry his earth with me.
No one but me is left to visit him,
but grain after grain of him fell as I walked.

* * * * *

Alex shared this poem with Melissa:

Pearls of Garlic

Toss some cloves of garlic into my bathwater.
I want to imagine I’m plucking pearls from the sea.
I watch these shark teeth swim through the soapy water
and break through the shimmering foam.

I want to imagine I’m plucking pearls from the sea,
their strong scent cloying to my shriveled hands that
break through the shimmering foam
as I gather them for my bounty.

Their strong scent cloys to my shriveled hands,
mixing with the traces of conditioner left on them.
As I gather them for my bounty, I wonder if
the allium in my hands will be better for my health

when it mixes with the traces of conditioner left
in my hair. I’m always pursuing an Aphroditian rebirth.
The allium in my hands will be better for my health,
so I toss some cloves of garlic into my bathwater.

In response, Melissa made this image, titled “Better for my Health”: