a three pass erasure for X. P.
The three pass poem:
The translation:
The source material is here.
The source:
“In Dirt” (including X. P.’s Craft Note)
Read more of X. P. Callahan’s work at Diary Poems.
A process note for inquiring minds:
The poem:
The source.
The translation:
How the poem emerged from the source:
My contribution to Erased Land, the 2025 Blackout Poetry Project, The Boutelle-Day Poetry Center at Smith College.
You can see other erasures from the project here.
Source material: The Family Reunion, a play by T. S. Eliot.
conscious breathing
ordinary breathing
consider
How little I know
Only this –
You are
the one thing that matters
bringing death
In June, I was in the Olympic Valley, near Lake Tahoe, at the Community of Writers Poetry Program.
The poets arrived on a sunny day. Suddenly, the sky darkened, and thunder rolled over the Sierra Nevada mountains. Hail, sleet, rain, and then snow.
That same day, in that same sudden storm, eight people died when a boat capsized on Lake Tahoe.
In six days in the Valley, I wrote eight poems, including this one.
The source material is here.
Here is how “a boat” rose out of the text.
Source material:
I usually work with san serif typefaces, in 14 to 16 point, as it is easier for me to read. The work above is in 16 point Aptos.
Often converting a poem from one size text to another changes the lineation.
Here is how “The Blue Dress” was lineated by Saeed Jones.
The source, with other thoughts and possibilities:
A Woman Died Midflight. They had to Sit Next to Her Body.
Avian Superhighways: The Four Flyways of North America
A New Flyway: Fall Migrants Cross The Atlantic To Reach South America
Mediterranean Sea migrant smuggling
the erasure, the translation, the excavation, and the source material
Source material: “Striped Eel Catfish Traverse the Ocean Floor as a Strategically Rotating Mass”, includes a must see video.
on the imagination of iguanas
Source material: These Iguanas Got Carried Away and Ended Up 5,000 Miles From Home.
The study referred to in the source material.
Man survives 14 months adrift at sea, now generally believed, had his own skeptics.
More about iguanas in the Galápagos Islands, with video of sea turtles.
call for a free replacement
Why redux?
In March, I posted an erasure poem about the recall of about 1.06 million coolers, using Igloo Recalls Coolers Over Fingertip Amputation and Crushing Risk as source material. 1
You can read “recall” here.
In May, the recall was expanded by another 130,000 coolers.
Redux.
Source materials for this post:
The 6 Most Common Finger Injuries (And How to Avoid Them!)
130,000 Igloo Coolers Recalled After Fingertip Injuries, Including Amputations
First Aid Treatment for Accidental Amputation
New Guidelines Call on Doctors to Take IUD Insertion Pain Seriously
If you really want to know more: Fingertip Injuries and Amputations: A Review of the Literature
1 I used How Much Would You Pay to Make Sure You Never Sawed Off a Finger? as source material for “recall” but as far as I know, there is nothing new on the power-saw/cut-off-your-finger front. You can read more about power saw injuries here.
