Rock, Paper, Scissors
There’s a particular kind of magic that happens when a book is born out of conversation – when ideas are shaped not in isolation, but in the lively, generous space between people. We invited poets Ella Duffy and Adam Horovitz to collaborate on a poetry pamphlet and Rock, Paper, Scissors began not as a theme but as a gesture – a shared impulse toward play, risk, and the unpredictable pleasures of collaboration. When two poets decide to write through a game, they inherit its rules, its rhythms, and its surprises. They also inherit its intimacy: the raised hands (even if virtual!), the moment of suspense before revelation, the quiet thrill of not knowing what the other will throw next.
In this project, the game became both method and metaphor. Each round shaped the poems that followed; each ‘win’ or ‘loss’ nudged the sequence into new territory. What emerged was not a competition but a conversation – one that moved from hand to page, from constraint to invention, from the familiar triad of rock, paper, scissors into a widening field of images, echoes, and shared imaginative leaps. The results are playful, rigorous, and full of the unexpected.