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I'm Major Jackson, and this is The Slowdown.

Late Spring, I attended a brilliant performance of Pretend It's a Boat Poetry Tour.

Featuring comedian, poet, Derek C. Brown, an actress, poet, Amber Tamplin at Coop Gallery.

The two friends decided to go on the road together via motorcycle to cities across the country.

The event was hosted by the Free Nashville Poetry Library.

Yes, my city has a space where you can borrow books of poetry on an honor system.

After co-founder Matthew Johnstone welcomed everyone, Amber and Derek came out with bike helmets.

They stood behind a makeshift boat fashioned from a car table turned on its side,

and invited everyone to imagine they were in it.

We were no longer in a gallery, but on the seas, being carried along by their stand-up comedic performance and poetry.

Derek and Amber used the broom as an or, and hilariously exchanged witty repartees.

But in between, they read extremely moving poems about breakups, women's empowerment, the pandemic, and other emotionally charged topics.

What we've endured over the past years, from health to personal crises, was sifted through their extremely beautiful humor and empathetic imaginations.

My sides hurt. I am sure at one point I fell off my chair snorting with laughter.

The evening reminded me of readings of your, the kind of ease and whimsy that happens between artists and long-time compatriots.

No stiff explanations of theory smothering a poem, no solemn acts of confession, just a shared vulnerability and intimacy,

an overflowing love between friends.

Today's poem, a double sonnet, queries this notion of friendship, how it concretizes and becomes the substance by which we form ourselves.

Wondawill, by Wo Chan, for Hey Young Park.

Angels undress, and solstice has got us many, stilled, hot hounds thrash east into Oceans Maribu, foam that is knowledge, our own gravy-bods veloutine as time is giving.

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