Erosion
a pair of poems by Kenneth Durham Smith and David Keith Johnson
These two poems — Slaughden and Question (1974) — remind us that we are vulnerable to erosions both natural and manmade and prod us to consider our legacies.
Erosion (broadside) 8 3/4 x 10 1/4 inches. Single sheet. Edition of 30 copies.
Erosion (pamphlet) 9 x 5 1/4 inches closed. 6 pp. Edition of 25 copies.
Gibraltar Editions has issued 55 copies of Erosion in two versions: 30 as broadsides (images above) and 25 as pamphlets (images below). Denise Brady handset and printed the poems using Gill Sans, Perpetua italic and roman, and Studio types. The text paper is Gutenberg and the pamphlet cover is Rives heavyweight, hand marbled.
Kenneth Durham Smith and David Keith Johnson met at a bus stop in north Seattle between thirty and forty years ago. Striking up a conversation, they found they were both Midwesterners (Kenneth from Michigan, David from Nebraska), both holding down jobs as attorney assistants and both practicing poets.
Their friendship has endured across the decades and (after Kenneth relocated to London) across the globe. In June of 2020, their ongoing conversation spawned something like a formal scheme they call Post and Riposte On no specific timetable, either Kenneth or David offers one of his poems to the other as a sort of provocation. Once two poems are juxtaposed, a one-word theme is agreed upon.
Erosion is one of their post and riposte pairs. Others can be read at their website: Poetry Post and Riposte.
