It's collaboration week here at MONDO BUMMER

First of all, Seth Landman & Lewis Freedman's collaborative chapbook is now available.

Seth Landman & Lewis Freedman's poems, Osagee Icarus

Landman & Freedman wrote Osagee Icarus collaboratively -- letter by letter. Their poems, "directly in hallucination," make "buttermilk the acceptance of huge joy." ($2) [vol 7] * * *

On Sunday, here in Ann Arbor, the Washtenaw County Women's Poetry Collective and Casserole Society is holding a book release party to celebrate our chapbook, The Feeling is Mutual. The reading is at 7pm at WORK Gallery, 306 S. State Street.

There will be collaborative readings by WCWPCCS members and contributors, audience participation, and homemade casseroles!

* * *

And finally, Beth, Justin, Sam McDermott, and I wrote a Fat Tuesday renga last night:

FAT TUESDAY RENGA

While snow melts,

New snow still falls

Arthur Russell sounds sad

Some days, the snow

Grows. Some days, the snow.

Tracks appear in our

Yard. Ruts worn through the field of

White. It thaws each day.

Brown gross patches

Puncture the snow blanket.

Walking to the post office

I look up from my heavy package

To see the cresent moon

My left hand can

Grab it. It’s waxing.

Tomorrow I will

Be able to see at night without

A lamp. But a jacket

Keeps the wind off my neck

And yours, my golden heart.

Custard, jam or puree

Fill them all. Sweet

And bloated on Fat Tuesday.

Eating stale paczki

In bed on Ash Wednesday

It never seems like we need to get up.

It’s cool—

we never even sweat.

We sit in chairs

We don’t stick to

In summer, popsicles melt

And our hands are as sticky

As the heavy full moon

We stay out late because

It’s always warm out

And in the middle

Of the day it’s just too hot

To move at all

A lone man at a red wooden table

The tea in the cup grows a skin

The milk in his tea

As white as a blanket

Of cherry blossoms

Covering the sidewalk

They crush underfoot

Releasing sweet fresh

So long sweet jellyfish

Keep your arms in bloom

I guess I’ll see you later,

Lonely bay-window me

Looking out

In three directions

A stranger crosses the street

The blinds close and the table

Changes its clothes

Putting on a puffy

Overcoat, a big synthetic

Drapery for which

Snow is a playmate—

Flakes against blue parka

The tyvek separates me from you.

I will give you a sleeve,

A detachable hood, take care

I hate seeing you shiver:

Come back to bed

Let’s pull the blankets

Over our heads

And you can tell me a story

A story that ends

With us under a cedar

And I can see you

Clear as day by the pale light

Of this new moon

The red in your cheeks

And the red in the leaves

They are two mittens

The season makes me shy to wear

But not ashamed—

I’m happy being quiet.

When I get home I take off my shoes

Lay on the floor

And listen to the radiator

The keys are where

I left them

That piano: always there

Always alive, like the petals

On my favorite flower.

My favorite flower

Is blooming right now!