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perhappened mag
issue 8: LOVERS

ars poetica:
collector

AIDAN DANIEL
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1
Gather.
​◻ Choose a box. It can be any size, shape, and kind you’d like.
     Ex.: velvet ringboxes, dented cardboard movers, metal cigar cases.
​
2
Combine.
​◻ Start placing collecteds in the box. It can be difficult to tell what will live well in it; experimentation is the heart of the process. You can put things in the box over and over.
​
3
Again.
​◻ Now, collect again, picking up all that you fought away before.
     Ex.: guide moments down gently, like a moth, frantic in the cup of your hands; interactions that echo can I tell you I love you before I go?.
​
◻ Close the box and let it rest.
​
4
Open.
​◻ Observe.
     Ex.: crescent-moon pinecones open, propagating toothpick saplings
     Ex.: the parking receipt is no longer paper, but printed on a tulip tree leaf
     Ex.: a reverberation travels up the sides: (you can (you may (please do)))
​
5
Again.
​◻ Continue as needed.
     Ex.: Ideally, the box will never be empty, and never be full.

Aidan Daniel (she/her) is an MFA candidate at Randolph College. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Maudlin House, the LAMP Journal, and Riverviews Artspace's BeatBurg initiative. You can find her barely tweeting at @aidanthemaiden.
for an image version of this piece, click here
​perhappened mag
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header photo: rumman amin (unsplash)

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  • the mag
    • the issues
    • submit to the mag
  • the press
    • the chapbooks >
      • CALIFORNIA IS GOING TO HELL
      • body in motion
      • sun of daedalus / song of anticlea
    • submit to the press
  • support us