Donna Prinzmetal & Penelope Scambly Schott
Donna Prinzmetal and Penelope Scambly Schott are good friends and write together often. Donna loves to use a word list as a prompt and on this particular occasion they assembled a list and wrote poems outside on a lovely Portland day. After reading each other their first drafts, it became apparent that not only had they selected some of the same words, which was to be expected, but that the two poems sounded rather like a conversation. At that point they wrote a third section together and emailed drafts to each other. They experimented with the individual poems placed in different order in the collaborative poem and eventually, after they had both taken a pass at revising it, agreed on a final draft. Donna and Penelope had never collaborated before but in this instance, what emerged from combining the two pieces seemed stronger and more interesting than either of the poems separately. The element of conversation seemed integral to the final project which pleases them both; they enjoy conversing with one another about poetry and life in general, and now their poem has carried that conversation into something new.
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Instructions for an Unshared Journey
1. No One Uses Travel Agents Anymore
We could have sailed the Great Lakes
or else the Nile, dropping bread crumbs
like Hansel and Gretel on the way
to the Pyramids of Giza
where we might have winked
into the cameras of strangers.
Instead I sprawl in a puddle of heavenly light
and rub my belly like a shy Buddha
remembering the laugh trapped in my mouth,
and how you, tickling me
released me from self-storage.
In accordance with your instructions,
the caged canary memory
of our first night together
has been released.
Had we gone to the spice market,
we could have shivered from the lavish smells,
but the sad truth is we had no reservations
in that life, and because you are dead,
you have not booked me elegant accommodations
in the next.
Now the bruise on my shoulder
is a lipstick ghost on a pillow
that will remain unmendable.
Yes, I sift through the ashes
of last week’s obits, shaken as I was
by everything that never happened.
Who told me there is no reason to hurry?
In accordance with your most anticipated instructions,
I promise to upgrade both of us
to hummingbird, emperor penguin,
pine cone.
I will sign the promissory note
with the stamen of a Morning Star Lily.
You’ll know where to find me.
2. Because You Are Dead
In accordance with your instructions,
I am emptying our unmendable pillow slips.
Feathers snow on the carpet like shredded obits.
Per your wishes, I’ve scratched our names
and a great big heart
on the driver’s side door of your pick-up.
It’s time to stop bending cardboard
into the Pyramids of Giza. It’s time to stop
embroidering your shroud.
As you suggested, I’ve gone to the spice market
for cardamom seeds, but they will not sprout.
Here by the riverside, I am remembering
us as lovers. Tonight I shiver alone
after the sun goes down, and I rub my bare arms.
Advise me, Sweetheart: what should I do now?
3. Bridge
When I reached the shore, the bridge had fallen
and no canoe would stop for me.
I stood under the abutment on my side
and saw you under the abutment on your side.
You couldn’t hear me shout. I couldn’t hear you.
Let’s pretend that we both hear the water.
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Donna Prinzmetal’s work has appeared in numerous small press publications including: The Journal, Cincinnati Review, New Ohio Review and The Pinch.
Penelope Scambly Schott's verse biography A is for Anne: Mistress Hutchinson Disturbs the Commonwealth won the 2008 Oregon Book Award for Poetry. Her newest is Six Lips (Mayapple, 2010).