the skyscape of always by John Levy & Shloka Shankar

“What a delight to be privy to this epistolary friendship between Shloka Shankar of Bangalore, India, and John Levy of Tucson, Arizona. Fresh and never pretentious, their words are buoyed by the spirit of discovery, the anything goes and yes, and attitude that is at the heart of all great collaborations. Writing in prose poems, haiku, haibun, and free verse, sometimes loosely completing each other’s forms (for example, my mind made a haibun of Levy’s free verse ‘seashore’ and the haiku that follows it, Shankar’s ‘mothering the ocean vagabond rain’), these two poets share the joy that ‘always/starts with a crumb/Hanseling and Greteling/into the unknown’ (Shankar). And their joy is infectious: I want to join in and respond with my own poems. Any reader/writer keen on innovative writing will find an exemplar in the skyscape of always.”

— Sabine Miller, Author of rock paper scissors ocean

About the Authors:

John Levy lives in Tucson with his wife, the painter Leslie Buchanan. He takes a lot of photos, began taking beginner’s piano lessons in his early 70s, and many different presses (in the U.S., Canada, England, Poland, Turkey, and India) have published his books and chapbooks of poetry and prose since 1980. His next book, To Assemble Absences, will be published in 2027 by Shearsman Books. He won the 2025 Poetry Society of America’s annual Shelley Memorial Award.

Shloka Shankar is a disabled poet, editor and visual artist from Bangalore, India. A Best of the Net nominee and widely published haiku poet, Shloka is the Founding Editor of Sonic Boom and its imprint Yavanika Press. She is the author of the haiku collections The Field of Why and within our somehows, and co-author of the haiga anthology, living in the pause. Website: www.shlokashankar.com