Richard Garcia et al.
This collaborative poem was composed in the style of an exquisite corpse; however, many of the lines were quotes from a previous draft each poet had written. The poem was written at the conclusion of an all day workshop led by Richard Garcia sponsored by Tebot Bach. The theme of the workshop was a seminar, "Journey into the Interior: Poems of the Sacred Journey."
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Journey
Like galley slaves we dipped our oars
into wine-dark water, tightly fused as an organelle.
We found ourselves on the silver night road.
[Here belongs the dialogue among the dead]
All day it was night, so we consoled ourselves
as we drifted deep into the unknown.
Our ship vibrated from countervailing forces
pulling us forward, calling us back.
The goats, bleating a nautical sonar, steered us
to an island of blue straw and green stars.
Their hair glowed like propane.
Stars dripped from the sky like melting wax.
We stopped to read the chapter about the island
that rose from the ocean floor.
As we read, the tempo quickened
and the verses became a chant.
We knew not what we knew.
Our eyes fell silent and filled with ash.
We plucked one sound from the dense night
hoping to illuminate the way.
We amused ourselves by ignoring
the barbed wire of the constellations.
The solar wind of dark matter filled our sails
pushing us forward into the past.
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Couplet authors in order of appearance: Betzi Richardson, Sandra Giedeman, Jacinta Kaplan, Ron Brown, Cece Peri, Jessica Bechtold, Pat Abrams, Jaime O'Halloran, Peggy Dobreer, Kristine Anderson, Patti Scruggs, Lorine Parks, Richard Garcia.