Here is a short photo essay that sort of catches up with what I've been doing of late, in Wordland, at least. Seems I've been so busy juggling other peoples' words I can't find any of my own. I'm into week three of a Facebook break and it's kind of nice! Soothing. Not as much stuff to wade through. There are enough things I miss about it (being in easy reach of overseas friends; the postcard poem group; our group that gets together about once a month for a potluck) that I'll probably go back, but I find I'm not in any hurry.
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| Denise Brown came for a visit in the summer. Over three days we sorted out her chapbook. |
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| This one may require a second printing! More info on my Nose in Book Publishing page. |
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| At the end of September I was in Vancouver for the Poetry in Transit launch at Word Vancouver. It was so wet! You can see raindrops on my glasses. That's my poem in the background. |
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| Carol Lopez and Anne Wheeler came out in spite of the weather, as did Dory Dynna who took this one and my bff Lynne Blume who took the one above. |
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| So then I got busy with this chapbook, a gorgeous collection of ekphrastic poems inspired by some of Robert Bateman's paintings that Yvonne Blomer wrote at the end of her three-year tenure as Victoria, B.C.'s poet laureate. |
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| The book contains fifteen poems along with the sketch or painting that inspired them. |
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| About to make the holes for sewing. |
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| Imagine my absolute joy when I realized I had hemp thread that was exactly the right colour for the image that had to go in the middle of the book! |
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| Kiisa keeping an eye on the books about to go into the press. |
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| Chapbooks being signed by Robert and Yvonne ahead of the launch. |
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| Some of the audience at the launch. It was so good to see old poetry buddies Wendy Morton and Rhonda Ganz there! |
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| Yvonne and her dad. Robert, still signing books! |
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| Yvonne's poem appears alongside the painting that inspired it at the Robert Bateman Centre in Victoria. The show is on until the end of January. Ted and I loved getting to see all the paintings there, but this show! Wow! |
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| More information on the book over on my Nose in Book Publishing page. |
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| I made a dozen or so little (around 2"x3"/ 5 cm x 7.5 cm) books that you can hang on a tree. The Kootenay Gallery in Castlegar has most of them. Merry Ho Ho and all that. |
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| Because of the necessary closeness of the pairs of threads it's almost harder to sew these than the bigger ones. Needles keep getting tangled with the thread. |
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| Here's a baker's dozen of chapbooks I've done (not including my own). After adding three to the mix this summer, I had to move them all to a new display area. |
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| Oh yeah, and this happened. Isn't this card the best? Kathy Holmes Tenta did it. This link is to an article from five years ago but it's still totally relevant, including the link to her Etsy store. She makes fabulous felt books for babies and the most wonderful masks for toddlers. |
