26 Tears

Authors: George Tosh and Chris Tysh

Publisher: BlazeVOX Books (2022)

"What an abracadabra of abecedarian magic is 26 Tears! Evoking the Aramaic avra kehdabra, 'I will create as I speak,' this collaborative incantation weaves a magical spell of language. Two poets riff in alphabetical measure with illuminating literary texts, an epidemic, and a quotidian of political angst. Here a double abecedary comes full circle as the responding poet counters the initial's opening of 'A to Z' with a 'Z to A' turnabout. Powerfully ouroboric as alphabet's tail joins origin with snippets from each corresponding letter!"

–Maureen Owen

"The shocks of the last half decade have left us breathless, with poetry gasping to catch up. Language itself registers the feints and shifts in unexplainable ways. In 26 Tears we have a quiet poetic conversation between two poets—who happen to be married to one another as they are to the art—in slant-stanzaed, short-lined poems that touch mind and heart in all registers. Nothing solved, described, or theorized, just the ever-shifting colors of words twisting back and forth on themselves in a world in pain."

–Norman Fischer