Envelopes of Air: Poetic Correspondence as Partnership

Abstract

On May 23, 2018 The New Yorker published a feature titled “Envelopes of Air. Two poets forge a bond amid the shifting landscape of contemporary America”. Within, the poem-shaped correspondence between poets Ada Limón and Natalie Diaz, regarding both daily life and the contradictions of contemporary U.S.A. This article seeks to explore how Diaz & Limón reveal and enmesh their voices, language and imagery to create an eight-poem world in itself, “a third space” of friendship and intentional partnership, built upon shared vulnerability and engaged in exposing and subverting the dominator mindset (Eisler 1988) through the exploration of body and land.

Keywords

• natalie diaz
• ada limon
• poetic correspondence
• envelopes of air
• partnership