Robin Messing’s short story, “Drive-by” was a 2011 nominee for a Pushcart Prize. She is the author of a novel, Serpent in the Garden of Dreams, and two poetry chapbooks, From Temporary Worker and Holding Not Having. She has contributed vocal tracks to Cornelius Eady and Rough Magic’s forthcoming CD, The Sterling Brown Project. Her stories, poems, and essays have been published in Catamaran Literary Review, Cosmonauts Avenue, Distillery, Drunken Boat. New Ohio Review, New York Newsday, The Sycamore Review, Vinyl Poetry, Washington Square, and others. She has recently completed a second novel, When They Were Fire.
After reading the poetic correspondence between Natalie Diaz and Ada Limón entitled “Envelopes of Air,” we decided to write poetic letters to one another, which naturally interrogated our feelings and thoughts during a pandemic.