Edition of 5, 2022
THE NAPKIN TRICK is part of BLUE PRINTS, a closed collection of five poems that subtly responds to the concept of a “roadmap” vis à vis the creative process. Rather than asking where art may lead, Caballero invites readers to consider where art comes from by sharing her own poetic practice.
The media-rich poems in Caballero’s BLUE PRINTS collection are linked graphically but also thematically. Each poem approaches the question of what drives literary creation from a different perspective, but, in all, inevitability is palpable.
For Caballero, writing is not a matter of choice or of destination–instead, writing is her blueprint, at once the origin, essence and design.
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The Napkin Trick
It’s happened before:
the intention for conversation
starts with a deliberate walk
down a familiar, bright street—
a light purse and empty pockets.
(The night, after all, should only call for some cash.)
But when a set of doors is cho¬sen,
they’re not broached.
Reluctance offers an option:
you hunt instead for iso¬lated
drinks and a borrowed pen
with which to forget
the disco music from a car
(circling the block in search of a park¬ing spot)
on the front and back
of a red paper napkin.
