This Sunday we were happy to welcome Todd Melicker back to Lightrail Studios to talk about his first full length book, and winner of the Black Box Poetry Prize, Rendezvous (Rescue Press, 2013). This book, which is comprised mostly of work that had originally appeared in the chapbook form, is broken up into four types of sections, 'day collects,' 'nautilus,' 'rendezvous,' and 'king & queen.' Each section works with a different form, often inviting the reader to a multiplicity of readings. These poems grapple with dichotomies and pairs – the sun and the moon, the king and the queen. At the same time, there is a blurring of boundaries, where the 'I' is not always sure how and where the merger with the other takes place. Todd talked about struggling with his intuition when discovering the direction of his work and giving himself permission to trust that the poem is assembling itself as it should. Todd shared that he tends to compose his poetry for the page and that he re-encounters his work when considering how to read aloud. He revealed the 'conversations' that found their way into the content of the work. We talked about the 'letting go' involved when we acknowledge that the reader acts as collaborator in the poem's construction. Towards the end of the interview, we compared the chapbook format to the full-length book format.
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