“What Kind of Times Are These”
by
Adrienne Rich
There’s a place between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphill
and the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadows
near a meeting-house abandoned by the persecuted
who disappeared into those shadows.
I’ve walked there picking mushrooms at the edge of dread, but don’t be fooled
this isn’t a Russian poem, this is not somewhere else but here,
our country moving closer to its own truth and dread,
its own ways of making people disappear.
I won’t tell you where the place is, the dark mesh of the woods
meeting the unmarked strip of light—
ghost-ridden crossroads, leafmold paradise:
I know already who wants to buy it, sell it, make it disappear.
And I won’t tell you where it is, so why do I tell you
anything? Because you still listen, because in times like these
to have you listen at all, it’s necessary
to talk about trees.
Some one should compile a book or website devoted to the clever chalkboard signs that booksellers in North America use to entice book buyers into shops for a browse.
Deep in the Yellow Wood by Lois Morrison is a movable artists’ book inspired by Artist Book Ideation Cards. The color yellow was chosen by the artist from the prompt of ‘favorite color’ and features characters from other elements of her work, including the ‘yellow kid’, a goat inspired by one of her favorite comics as a child. In this movable star carousel book, the goat dances with other creatures to the music of Pan’s pipes through yellow woods. Printed with a Gocco printer on yellow papers and sponge painted arches, hand done elements enhance the book to come alive.
Boston is one of those rare cities in the United States that still has an abundance of excellent independent bookstores. One of my all time favorites in Boston is the wonderful family owned Brattle Book Shop. Not only is it one of America’s oldest secondhand bookstores, it’s also one of the best. Take a peek:
“A Postcard from the Volcano”
by
Wallace Stevens
Children picking up our bones
Will never know that these were once
As quick as foxes on the hill;
And that in autumn, when the grapes
Made sharp air sharper by their smell
These had a being, breathing frost;
And least will guess that with our bones
We left much more, left what still is
The look of things, left what we felt
At what we saw. The spring clouds blow
Above the shuttered mansion-house,
Beyond our gate and the windy sky
Cries out a literate despair.
We knew for long the mansion’s look
And what we said of it became
A part of what it is … Children,
Still weaving budded aureoles,
Will speak our speech and never know,
Will say of the mansion that it seems
As if he that lived there left behind
A spirit storming in blank walls,
A dirty house in a gutted world,
A tatter of shadows peaked to white,
Smeared with the gold of the opulent sun.
Book art by Malena Valcarel
While it’s not unusual for books to be made into films, it’s less common for movies to be transformed into print. A24, the New York City-based entertainment company responsible for the films such as Moonlight, Spring Breakers, Ex Machina, Room and The Witch has begun turning its movies into books. With a slew of Academy Award nominations and wins, the company has recently turned three of its most successful titles into books: Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight and Robert Eggers’ The Witch. Each of the titles is notable for their visionary writer-directors.
The books include a screenplay and a visual section titled 24 Frames – a curation of full-color stills that are particularly meaningful to the director. The books also have forwards by Frank Ocean and Carmen Maria Machado for Moonlight and The Witch respectively, along with production notes and art work.
Travel Between The Pages 