Altered Book Consciousness

Exposed,

the edge of disaster 

wolves eat dogs

and my shoes keep walking back to you.

Reality charting

family history.

If you loved him

(what’s a father for?)

there is room for you.

The plan:

behaving like adults.

-are we there yet?-

Life studies,

true enough,

nothing but the truth,

nothing to fear.

Used

to believe not to believe

the worst day of my life, so far.

The story of forgetting

this happy place.

All or nothing.

A greater good,

no hidden meanings.

You know better.

Fever, secret life,

the woman in the cloak.

She is me, 

who I was supposed to be.

Crazy woman blues.

How I got to be perfect.

My found friend, Ouende, makes altered books. She posted some photos of the books she has collected, chosen for their titles, and I made this poem out of them. The lines came together in a particular fashion, inspired by a young woman I know in her mid-20s. I bet a whole different poem could be composed of these same titles, with a whole different meaning - if someone had a mind to do such a thing.

Rust and Diamonds

Christmas Cards

These are some of the Christmas cards I've made over the years. The earliest one was when I was 10. My mother mimeographed it on the school ditto machine. The copies were in purple mimeograph ink. I scanned the image and changed the colors for our family Christmas card a few years ago. I started making my own designs in high school art class in 1967-68. The earliest ones were silk screen prints. In subsequent years, I used linoleum block prints. When copies became easier and less expensive, I was able to easily duplicate line drawings. In later years I have taken some of my lino cuts, scanned them or changed the images for new cards. I also enjoy using vintage images from magazines or childhood photos of Daniel's and my families. As a theme, I may be inspired by events in our lives. Or the inspiration may come from something I've been thinking about, a dream, a fairy tale or family heritage. This is the one time each year that I do an art project. Dates approximate.