"The Friends List: a Poem in 292 Parts"--Carolyn Guinzio

I love Carolyn Guinzio's "The Friends List: a Poem in 292 Parts"--a short stanza on each of her Facebook friends. On Facebook, Kathleen Ossip shared it and wrote that it "chimes with affection and connection". I think so, too, but also think some sections capture the slightness and wisp-like surprise, the oddity of some of those connections--it's a poem that makes sense of Facebook, when "Making Sense Of Facebook" sometimes doesn't seem so far from "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All".

A few brief excerpts that I hope it's okay to quote (read the entire poem here*):

1. 
She was worried 
about the phantom
kittens in the grate.

39. 
I was won over
by the fictional contents
of the fictional little girl’s purse.

77. 
I both knew and did
not know that was her
at the next table.

88. 
You can look, but I think
he has already found
all the good fossils.

102. 
Where can she be
at peace?
On a horse.

195. 
Even at the hospital,
I see her in the light 
of chandeliers.



*link may be broken after a week or two--just learned of poet's intention to only keep the page up for a short while