An Autobiography of Letters
Maureen Seaton and Neil de la Flor
A(utospell) This word has nothing to do with cars or spells but it is magical and fast (n)evertheless.
B(oink) The sound of two piglets bumping heads in the night.
C(oined) A term regarding coins, not coin(cidences).
D(etroit) Latin for all cities on one or more lakes.
(East)er Better than Wester(ns).
F(lyer power) What birds pray to.
G(hosts) levitate over fire in dreams; or
H(enry) Darger.
I is rarely articulated in the Spanish language. Instead, it is incorporated into the verb, where it plays a flute in the background, like the way some stars are invisible but they’re still there, playing wind instruments and seemingly weightless.
Ja/son Son of Ja, god of horror movie nights.
K (o)(k) (a palindrome)
Love A lot of flirting and snoring to The Sound of Music.
M(o)st deaths from tornadoes occur between 4 and 8 PM [see W(ind)]
Nude People wear themselves out around the house.
O(k) A bright golden haze on the meadow.
P(articipate What one would do if one had an invisible ship or a cloak made of a million mirrors.
Susie(Q) Lancelot’s sword.
T-bone steak is kind of like a hadron that collides with another hadron to make one university-sized cupcake with sprinkles and icing made out of 3.8 billion particles of light.
U Uvula, ukelele, or urine.
V Birds enjoy this shape. As do bombers.
X Sometimes we orbit stars that are not stars that are photons of light that remind us of sex with extraterrestrials.
Y(ou’re) the kind of thief who steals tired objects; and tiny ones.
fro (Z)en.
Maureen Seaton has authored seventeen poetry collections, both solo and collaborative—with two new books forthcoming: Fisher (Black Lawrence Press) and Sweet World (CavanKerry Press). Her awards include the Lambda Literary Award, Audre Lorde Award, an NEA, and the Pushcart. She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Miami, Florida.
Neil de la Flor is a writer, educator, artist, and executive director of Reading Queer, a Miami-based organization dedicated to promoting and fostering queer literary culture in south Florida.