Men in raincoats—lean against—
the color given them—in the print
shop—A little rectangle—in-
venting—in its transit—the place it
will come to rest—A language—with-
in the shape of language—Birds within—
the shapes of birds—
Where We Expect to See You Soon
Michael Ford
December 2011
These poems are written in a form that I call an 89. The basic dimensions of the form can be discovered by counting the number of lines in “The New Atlantis,” as well as the number of lines in each stanza and the number of syllables in each line. Even when this form disintegrates in particular lines, each poem clings to the number 89. I am fond of this number. It is a prime number, a member of the Fibonacci sequence, the tail end of a count to 10. 8 is also 2 to the 3rd power, and 9 is 3 to the 2nd. And of course, there are 7 89s in this book. —Michael Ford
About the Author
Michael Ford grew up in the Austin neighborhood on the west side of Chicago. From 1999 to 2009, he lived in New Orleans. In his poems, he often attempts to create verbal approximations of landscape paintings of those two cities, with impossible details added to each scene. He is the author of Carbon and Where We Expect to See You Soon (both from Ugly Duckling Presse), and Olympia Street (published by Trembling Pillow Press).
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Publication Details
Hand-bound. 36 pp, 5.5 x 7.25 in
Publication Date: December 17 2011