We are now in the full porch-swing of summer, which means Summer Poetry Salons at my beloved Lit House. In celebration of the second salon of the summer on June 24 (tomorrow!), I was given the unbelievably fun task of designing and printing a letterpress broadside for Jamaal May's poem "There Are Birds Here," a love song for Detroit. As much I loved this poem on my first reading (and second and third), it was a particularly difficult design challenge. Don't get me wrong — there are so many ways to illustrate this poem because it is so packed with images. But to illustrate it in a way that actually adds to the text, that builds on the complex foundation set down by the poet — that is the challenge to be met. That is the challenge we always aim to meet at the Literary House Press . So that means no birds and no buildings. For me, those are the two most obvious, but least important images in this poem. Those details are just the shell around the ...
... there are three copies each of two of my letterpress broadsides. I submitted them to a really neat project pointed out to me by my printer-poet friend Emma Sovich: Papergirl San Francisco. People from all over the world donated artwork and prints to be rolled up and delivered by bike to strangers on the sidewalks of San Francisco. What an exciting and fun idea! Here's a gallery of all the submitted works and a list of participating artists. I only wish I could've been in San Francisco on October 3. Keep an eye out next fall for their call for submissions, fellow letterpressers!
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