Infrathin part 3
First Poet: Dictionary pages painted/marked with India ink. Then placed between sheets of paper vellum/tracing paper and stitched all over to hold the layers together. Pages then cut into 1” squares. One page of squares restitched into a chain is 58” long.
Second Poet: Wow Duchamp died in 1968, we were all alive at the same time.
[LSS
& RK, 3/7/2026]
Stop, Don’t Stop
First Poet: The eye wanders over an unfinished work of
art and hopes that it will never be completed.
Second
Poet: yet there are innumerable rest stops along the way
bitter
coffee in chipped mugs
ordering
"today's special"
pretending
to fight over the last slice of rural pie
standing
in a dusty gravel parking lot beneath a rising moon
the
inescapable scent of freshly mown alfalfa perfuming the night air
cattle
rustlers you only hear about
lonely
couples leaning against pickup trucks
atypical
country swing music
sawdust
across dance floors
coyotes
prowling where the streetlights end
the
last cherry Lifesaver from a roll is a sign
that
finishing is okay and you can say
‘this
is my stop, let me off here”
[LSS
& RK, 3/6/2026]
Interior View
When there is nothing left to think
about today, I draw a picture
of my new titanium hip. It comes out
looking like Camano Island.
After that, I find a stale fortune
cookie under the refrigerator.
“You are/are not an island,”
it says. “Circle one.”
There are no lucky numbers.
[LSS, 3/1/26]
Fortune Cookie
mine had winning lottery numbers
I paid $2 for a Lotto
nothing matched
I made tea with your shredded letter
it played mumblety-peg with my digestive system
checked the mailbox three times
slipped the mail carrier a twenty
he handed me a new patient flyer
for a local dentist named Cookie Poe
I chewed on that the rest of the day
until I cracked a wisdom tooth
and she had to put me under
[RK, 1/11/2026 ]
Infrathin part 2 (a dialogue between day and dreams)
First Poet – The New México trip reminded me of the importance of being a part of an artists’ group. We stayed at a ranch that was once an artists’ retreat. Huxley, O’Keeffe, Lawrence. All stayed there from time to time. It made me thankful for my local art groups and our writing project.
Second Poet – I just had a long dream about a multi-artist art opening in a huge gallery.
My old friend Tim was the star of the night - they were taking his work off the
walls after selling the items, and then putting up more of his work. I felt
myself illuminated by his star glow. It was a great show and a great crowd.
All
the artwork was meaningful and amazing.
Since the stroke I have the most incredible and lengthy dreams
FP – Dreams are a gift. I look forward to falling asleep after reading at night. I
love dreaming.
I never have nightmares.
SP – I believe that
FP – Bizarre dreams, yes, lots of those.
SP – I so wanted that gallery dream to be real
FP – How would you describe “meaningful?”
SP – give me a few minutes on that one
The work was both efficacious and socially relevant without being didactic.
FP – More social than personal in meaning?
SP – It triggered viewers in a positive way
I
imagine all social relevance is tied to the personal
let me amend that to 'politically/socially relevant'
FP – Timely. Current. In that direction?
SP – yes, the always evolving social zeitgeist
FP – Got it.
[RK 10/24/2025]
Infrathin part 1
“A
mystery interstellar object discovered last week is likely to be the oldest
comet ever seen – possibly predating our solar system by more than three
billion years, researchers say. The object was first spotted on 1 July 2025 by
the ATLAS survey telescope in Chile, when it was about 670 million km from the
Sun. The ‘water ice-rich’ visitor, named 3I/ATLAS, is only the third known
object from beyond our solar system ever spotted in our cosmic neighbourhood
and the first to reach us from a completely different region of our Milky Way
galaxy. It could be more than seven billion years old, according to University
of Oxford astronomer Matthew Hopkins.” – Newly
discovered interstellar object 'may be oldest comet ever seen' | The Royal
Astronomical Society [retrieved 10-24-2025]
you said I’ve been talking about death since we met
well death was here twice now
grabbing my ankles and shaking me upside down
in a hasty bid for spiritual loose change
one night the house became so quiet
that the shadows strived to escape
since then I have difficulty sleeping in darkness
I want to believe that after all my decades of
posturing and theorizing
the telescope finally swung in the correct direction
seeing things that were always there
but which I never looked for
nor knew existed
tumbling for billions of years
before threatening this thin fabric
[RK 10/24/2025]
