Start date: January 1, 2026.
List of participants:
Chris Alexander (New York City), Alexis Almeida (New York City), Amir Akram (Baghdad), Roberto Balò (Prato), Stephanie Barber (Philadelphia), Erica Baum (New York City), Elisa Biagini (Florence), Laura Boggia (Genoa), Marie Buck (New York City), Courtney Bush (New York City), Alessandra Capodacqua (Florence), Felipe Cussen (Santiago), Mónica de la Torre (New York City), Claire DeVoogd (New York City), Robert Fitterman (New York City), Ethan Fortuna (New York City), Sophia Le Fraga (Los Angeles), Kristen Gallagher (New York City), Henry Goldkamp (New Orleans), Sanja Grozdanic (New York City), Aurelia Guo (London), Sabine Herrmann (Berlin), Elijah Jackson (New York City), Atef Al Jaffal (Baghdad), Josef Kaplan (Philadelphia), Christine Kelly (North Adams), Klaus Killisch (Berlin), Tyler Little (New York City), Matt Longabucco (New York City), Kristin Lucas (Austin), Monica McClure (New York City), Holly Melgard (New York City), Hella Mewis (Baghdad), Joe Milutis (Seattle), Cole Modell (Pittsburgh), Yedda Morrison (San Francisco), Joseph Mosconi (Los Angeles), Sean Munro (New Orleans), Anna Murray (Dublin), Michael Prado (Lima), Théo Robine-Langlois (Paris), Kim Rosenfield (New York City), Zaid Saad (Baghdad), Jeff Shapiro (Siena), Ed Steck (Pittsburgh), Luke Stettner (Columbus), Barrett White (NYC), Sam Winston (London), Joey Yearous-Algozin (New York City)
CHEAT CODE
Christine Kelly
RESPONSES
Roberto Balò
Stephanie Barber
Erica Baum
Courtney Bush
A poem written with a cheat code: just write down the last thing said to you by as as many people you can think of
May 28 2025
Max told me take the white umbrella instead
of the new rainbow umbrella. John said he
loved to fight. Margaret said she had a vision
for how to publish my letters, but poems
for July would be fine. Jon said he liked
my handwriting for the cover. Jake told
me Payton met Madonna last night.
Payton said it was just like meeting your
friend’s mom. Maria said ciao. Nina asked
if she could bring Emir over to play. Hue
told me he would get to eat ice cream
after surgery, so he was not afraid. Jamie
said she took out the part I remembered
from her book, when the Marschallin
goes to see a movie. Nora asked how I
ended my telling of the story of the time
we saw Stalker at IFC then met a stalker at
Papaya Dog. How do you land a story
like that? Will told me he understood
why I couldn’t come to the party but
he’d just ordered a Cynar and soda. Sean
said one reading at a time. Juliet said she
didn’t need counsel she just wanted to
see me. Aiden said he had another event
that night. Jackson said he felt nauseous
for no reason. Ed said he’d tell me about
the time Tony Buba came into the store
but not right now. Marco said ciao and
thank you. Urush asked me about
my fitness journey. I mean he used those words.
Stacy said the boys couldn’t go to
the soccer field because a real game
was going on. My mom said she’d call
back at a better time. My dad said he
had seen his mom and felt, since she’d
fallen, she wasn’t doing well. Gabe
mentioned that mom had taken Molly
somewhere and left her phone at home,
so she didn’t know where her daughter
was or if she’d had lunch. Jessa said
the book launch would be fine, that I
was not, as I feared, doing rush jobs
for attention. Henry said he’d logged
off the Zoom because he couldn’t stop
laughing. Morgan said he did want to
hold the baby for her first trip to see
the ocean, and took her from my arms.
Laura asked to see the picture I took
of her baby holding forks at the restaurant.
Teline said it had been nice to hang out.
Kenta said I was beautiful. I don’t know
if I like my own artwork, Julien confessed,
which Andrew had told him was all that
really mattered. John said shoes cost one
thousand dollars. Drake said he’d gone
many places with John that day to buy
some shoes. Andy wanted to know which
translator of the Guermantes’ Way to buy
because he didn’t realize Lydia Davis
only did Swann. Claire said she’d
talk to Michelle about the fashion industry
as research for her movie. Sophie said
she wasn’t that tired. Michelle said
she’s turning thirty-five next week
which makes her think she’s dying so
she’s been making doctor’s appointments.
Milo said the urban legend I told him
was not scary. Lily told me the creator
of Chopped originally wanted dogs
to eat the losing contestants’ meals.
Max used a baseball metaphor to ask
me to pick Milo up from school. Ted
said he was one of my six, meaning
one of the six people who would care
if I stopped writing. Shiv told me
to read the Faber Book of Movie Poems.
Rainer said they couldn’t come to my
book launch. Dante said they weren’t
sure if they could babysit my cat in July.
Jack asked if I’d give him my address.
Ruzan said I deserved to be taken care of.
Sabrina asked me if I had gotten back into
therapy. Noman said Jing was doing great
feeding the baby in the middle of the night.
Alex said he was going to have lunch
with the actress who wanted to play me
in our movie, though she doesn’t know
it’s me she’d be playing, only I do
because I wrote it. Josh said thank you
and that he’d bought more laundry
detergent if I wanted to use it. Lexie
said thank you and they’d leave me
one hundred and fifty dollars. Violet
asked me if I named my book after
a specific movie. I didn’t speak to Rodrigo,
we only kind of waved at each other.
Anselm said he was going to Rodrigo’s
before getting into a car, I assume to go there.
Anna said she’d be gone for all of June.
Kristina said I had great form and knew
what I was doing. Sarah said she didn’t
know what PLUR was. Karen said
her Japanese toilet was her favorite
part of her house. James called out
for Jimmy the dog. Patti said she got
that I was busy at the poetry conference,
but since I was in town she really
thought I’d make time to see her.
I don’t remember what Beth said.
Kyle said he’d love to have a copy
of my book, and that he had also
been experiencing a delayed grief
about our relationship ending. Bill
said he’s published twelve books
already this year. LeeAnn said she
was not trying to interrupt us but
was just waiting for her gumbo.
Coco told me her plans for Fire Island.
Ada suggested we get dinner with Jake.
Chris said the Picture of Dorian Gray
starring Sarah Snook was amazing,
that they’d been gifted tickets. Kathy
asked if I’d heard they were playing
Baseball Is Cinema at Spectacle. Ari
said it was wild to watch Mets clips
at the theater. Grace said if they
weren’t too scattered getting ready
to travel the next day, they’d come
to the book launch. Heather said
she was excited for poetry workshop.
Stella said she’d pay me Friday.
Ben said he’s listening to death metal.
Zach asked if it was okay if Laura’s
book design is very similar to mine.
Alex said he was going to an Italian
restaurant for dinner even though
he’s worried about money. Hannah
said she’ll wear a pink Doen top
to her opening in Los Angeles.
Brandon said he was tempted to
forward my email to Steve. Steve
appreciated my email as it was
encouraging and he’s been trying
to find the strength to get his book,
the one I was gushing about, back
in print. Peter asked how I was. Tracy
said we’d had the same day, because
we’d seen each other at the barbecue
in Bed Stuy and then the screening
in the city. Shea said she would turn
twenty-three in Taiwan. Tiziana called
my fridge videos “poems.” Jeff said
he’d put my copies in the mail.
Rob said he’d put in a good word.
Johnna said Luke had peed all over
his clothes when he got to the hospital
so she took them home to wash them,
and when he woke up he got mad
that she’d gone through his stuff,
even though washing piss out of
someone else’s clothes for them
isn’t exactly that, right? It’s nice.
Phil said standing room tickets
at the Mets game were better than he
imagined they’d be. Dan said he
needed to talk to the sound guy
because the vocal effect we wanted
was going to require more equipment
than he or I originally assumed.
Alessandra Capodacqua
Sophia Le Fraga
Ethan Fortuna
Henry Goldkamp
Atef Al Jaffal
Cole Modell
Title: CHEAT CODE “MONEY”
Date: 1.3.26
Medium: sharpie on paper scanned via iPhone
Artist: Cole Modell
Anna Murray
Cheat Code [Failure]
I’m stuck again. I think I’ve looked up cheats or hints or solutions to maybe a third of the levels. Baba is You and box has key and door is locked and skull is defeat and defeat is failure and failure is failure.
I sink hours in strategy games on weekends, I bring a Switch while I travel, I have an impressive Steam library of indie releases, I finished all the bosses in Silksong. This is a puzzle game on my phone.
There’s a crossover with musical training in games, the ability to spend hours working on a fine motor skill and memory in order to reach some kind of achievement. Perfect and failure but that’s not acceptable so perfection and success and then criticism is failure so more perfection but it’s not really perfect though is it and failure and failure and that bit looks like success but it did come at great personal cost so maybe it’s actually failure and maybe I’m not being an artist properly and perfection and practice and failure and what do you mean I can’t use my hands properly because they’re in such knots and perfection and perfection and pain and perfection. Or maybe I’m good but just not smart?
I’m going to record this and put it all through Paulstretch. It’s ambient music’s cheat code.
Théo Robine-Langlois
Goodbye, merci
Zaid Saad
