Because of the loss of my language,
I was saying something kind of “brain-messed.” 
But Colleen kept talking to me, 
me not knowing what I said even when I said it.

My own “missing ideas.” Nothing mattered anymore.
Nothing spoke to me about me, 
about my sweetheart, Colleen.

I was certainly missing, but alive anyway.
How can I describe that right there?

Published February 6, 2022

Eloise Klein Healy, the author of nine books of poetry, was named the first Poet Laureate of Los Angeles in 2012. She was the founding chair of the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Antioch University Los Angeles. Her forthcoming book, A Brilliant Loss, will be published in 2022.

Johanna Friedman (b. 1982 in Lund, Sweden) is an artist who works primarily with patterns- both as formal elements and as subject matter. She integrates weaving with photography and moving imagery, often found online, in her practice.Being a dual citizen since birth, raised by two social anthropologists from the structuralist school, moving repeatedly and always with one foot in a different culture, there was an urgent need to make sense quickly of the constantly shifting surroundings. Her work often strives to cease the moment in between pattern (organized) and clutter (chaotic), where we think we can make sense of something but we are not completely sure. Friedman resides in San Francisco, USA and has a bachelor's degree in textile art from Konstfack University, Stockholm and a Master's degree in fine arts from California College of the Arts. Her work has been shown in numerous art galleries and museums around the world, such as Hordaland Kunstsenter in Bergen, Norway, Regina Rex in NYC and The Swedish Embassy in Washington DC where she was exhibited for the first time in the US. Her work is now in 3 national collections in Sweden, among them Malmö Museum of Art.