How Wild is the Wind (Living)

(March 2022. For Shipwreck. At a party at Shipwreck Studios in San Juan, Shipwreck shows me one of his sketchbooks with lots of awesome paintings. I write a poem called ‘Living’ in the margins of one, next to a painting of a windblown tree on a beach. I made it spatially interesting in honor of the visual artist. When I finished the poem, Shipwreck seemed really moved. He wrote ‘You have no idea!’ at the bottom of the page. He asked me if we could talk about really deep shit, and I said of course. He told me about his best friend, Sean, who had died. Sean was an amazing musician, and Shipwreck had me listen to this video of Sean singing a beautiful original song called ‘How Wild is the Wind.’ The lyrics perfectly resonated with the poem I’d written. It was very moving. I added ‘How Wild is the Wind’ to the title in honor of Sean. This poem is more interesting when read with the art it was inspired by, and seeing how I play with shapes on the page.)

Living

The fire the source the edges
Movement is flickering flame
In out in out
The wind is in and out
Moving.
The wind is blue and white
and blue and tan
and brown and green⁠—

The wind taking shape,
The wind making shape.

you have no idea!

HOW WILD IS THE WIND