John and Martin’s collaborations begin when one of them tosses out a few lines, maybe with a suggested title, maybe with a suggested Big Picture or agenda. The other then responds with a few lines of his own, sometimes ignoring the suggestions, usually tweaking them. Back and forth they go, volleying, until both of them agree that this particular game is over. Their shared vision most recently culminated in the fifty-poem manuscript Poets’ Guide to America, two years’ worth of poetic partnership, an idiosyncratic exploration of the cities, states, and strange places of the United States.