Reading Water, A Dance Between Poetry and Art

This Sunday my dear friend, Shu-Ju Wang and I gave a joint talk/poetry reading about the artist’s book Water which we collaborated on. The event was the monthly poetry reading series hosted by Stonehenge Studios and organized by Leah Stenson.

The creation of this book began with Shu-Ju inviting me to collaborate with her. I happily agreed, and set to work writing the poem. Once completed, Shu-Ju began making the actual book, by hand of course. She also prodded me to write a poem for the back of the book on a subject she suggested.

The main poem has no beginning or ending and must be read in the round. With this requirement in mind, she went about making the physical book. With the stanzas and their references to rain and snow, she imagined the art of it. After the book was completed, I had both sides of the book digitized, and made a full sized print. Thus you can purchase the book or the print or both, and see this beautiful work in all its delight.

I hope you will take some time to watch the video I made and to take in the wonder of our two year long collaboration. You can purchase the book either on my Products page or at Shu-Ju’s website, and the print is available from me also.

You will find the video here.