Side by Side

Joy and Larry met each other in the pages of tanka journals, a few years ago, and became friends and began to write together, almost always in pairs of tanka, and mostly thrown down in passing. The result is Side by Side, an intimate look inside friendship of two master poets who commiserate with each other over the debilities of age, and who inspire one another with humor, wit and a keen appreciation for the perishable beauty of the world. "I suggest you read these fine poems slowly, a sip at a time the way you would a fine whiskey. Notice how the voices of the poets blend, become one until the reader pays no attention at all to whether the "author" of a particular tanka is Kimmel or McCall... Enjoy." -Tom Sexton, former Poet Laureate of Alaska; author of I think Again of Those Ancient Chinese Poets, and For the Sake of the Light, and A Ladder of Cranes.