Friday 23 August 2013

Kitchen Table Publishing

I have been working at the kitchen table, preparing two sets of poems. The poems themselves are in my shed. I printed them in there, where they're now hanging up to dry. The wood, hammer, drill and nails for their presentation are all on the kitchen table, where we also eat.
Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be easier just to put poems in a BOOK, like everyone else, but then I really like the finished product.
 The Keys to Love.
The poems are on the labels behind the letterpress printed titles. It's an edition of six. 
Ready to take to Free Verse: The Poetry Book Fair in London on 7th September poetrybookfair.com and to exhibit as part of h.Art week, 7th to 15th September, at the Print Shed in Madley. www.theprintshed.net
Exciting times. It's worth having the kitchen table multi task for a while!

4 comments:

  1. I love the way you make such concrete, unexpected, three-dimensional things from and around words, it's so satisfying and seems to bridge a gap which I realise has been exercising me somewhat lately: something to do with the need to make things which are solid and tangible but also connected with words and ideas and feelings...

    It's really rather exciting.

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  2. Thank you for this lovely comment! I have never really liked the idea of poems being stuck in an order on pages inside a book, where they are weighted down and lost in the throng.

    When I was young I only performed my poetry and didn't write it down for others to read, and liked the notion that a performance might be remembered - or not.

    It is a very exciting creative time - but I must invest in a workbench, so we can have the kitchen table back to its proper use as a kitchen table!

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  3. That's very creative.

    Back here, in the really old days, poems were passed down as oral history. Hearing them, or seeing, is a different experience.

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  4. Yes you are right - to hear a poem, and to read on the page is very different. Reading is the more personal way to experience a poem, I think, whereas hearing the poem is also about the poet or person saying the poem. Interesting! Thank you for your comment.

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