Inscribing with attention to the small and intricate

Numbers 2 and 3 offer snapshots of Leavitt’s experiences as a loved one and a caregiver (“Fighting” and “The Body in Pain as Seen From Outside.”)  In the final panels of Chronics 3, the author confesses, “Every night I play in these rectangular panels,” the words enclosed accordingly. These panels offer “little doorways out of [her life].”

When Leavitt asks, “What is it like, this life with you?”  the answer is beautifully distilled in words and images. “Small, intricate, mysterious shapes,” “Textures if you look closely” and “large unfamiliar cities.” The images are powerful: a black whirlpool, broken lines that rain down, and a dark skyline. In these floating rectangles, each cordoned off and holding multitudes, we come to understand that we’re viewing only a fraction of Leavitt and D’s universe. Leavitt holds their world close by giving it form in ink.