Rosemarie and Keith and Burning Deck (The Power of Two, Burning Deck Press)

Keith and Rosemarie Waldrop. Photo: Walt Odets. Via Paris Review.
Fifty-six years: Rosemarie and Keith Waldrop recently closed up shop at their press, Burning Deck, after fifty-six years. A celebration and history of their long running collaboration is available at Poetry Society of America:
"When we started Burning Deck Magazine in 1961, it happened to be the moment when letterpress printing was being replaced by offset, and print shops were dumping their letterpress equipment. We were graduate students at the University of Michigan, so buying a letterpress and learning to print seemed the only way we could afford publishing. Until 1985, we printed all Burning Deck publications on our letterpress, and in spite of the drudgery involved, it remains a source of satisfaction."

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CL: Between dinner and a reading at Bridge Street Books (April 2006), I asked Rosmarie what makes two poets living and writing and publishing and collaborating together possible over the long haul. She immediately said something along the lines of  "Keith isn't competitive with me. There's no competition between us. We don't compete with each other." 

And then, as we walked along, I think also Keith let me wear his hat.
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Books by the Waldrops and from Burning Deck
available at Bridge Street Books
2814 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC

Phone: (202) 965-5200

image of storefront of Bridge Street Books, address 2814 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC, best literary bookstore in Washington, DC

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