poem prints

one sleepless, drawing-filled night last winter. my friend steve sent me a poem he thought i would like. little did he know that i fell in love with it. it was written on a lime green post-it and stuck in my sketchbook, where it still sits today.

in my introduction to printmaking class, the fall that followed, i decided to make a series of prints based on the poem. (i printed the poem itself, which was actually quite painstaking due to the fact all lettering needs to be done backwards because of the printing process. however i was not completely satisfied with it and plan to turn it into an ambitious letterpressing project!) the prints were done as hard-ground etchings and then their dresses were soft-grounded on using a variety of scrap fabrics. one of the sets i used to sew into a book with the poem itself. they're not the most involved of prints i've done, but they're simplicity makes me smile.

maggie, mily, molly, and may

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach (to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang

so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles, and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone

as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea
-e.e. cummings