“The Seahorse Motel”
Collaborators’ Q&A: Artist Ira Joel Haber: I liked the shortness of breath that the poet used, it was brief and strong, autobiographical but with enough room for me to freely move about in. I also liked the way she used objects such as newport cigarettes, and the wonderful seahorse motel. Poet Rachel Marie Patterson: I was surprised and excited to see these bright colors. For me, the poem comes from a place of memory and imagination—a grayscale place, or maybe a place with muted colors—distant. But the neon colors bring the poem new life and dimension and take it from the more abstract world of memory to a very immediate, electric space.
Poet Rachel Marie Patterson is an editor at Four Way Review and the author of the chapbook If I Am Burning (Main Street Rag, 2011). Artist Ira Joel Haber was born and lives in Brooklyn, New York. Currently he teaches art at the United Federation of Teachers Retiree Program in Brooklyn. Designer Debbie Nadoleny is an artist and production designer based in New York City and Provincetown, MA.