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book as

Back in July of 2013, I began writing a running reflection on book as … book as body, book as stream, book as letter, book as seam, etc. And that running list eventually grew into a poem titled book as.

I kept thinking about this poem, on and off over the past couple of years, and then earlier this summer I finished rewriting the poem. One thing that I felt almost immediately, while working on this piece, was that it had to be read out loud. It seemed to need that kind of vocalization. And this feeling stayed with me as I wondered how I might move this poem into a bookwork.

Actually I did’t know then, if or how, the text would move into a physical bookwork but I imagined it might. Maybe as a flip book, or an audio book piece, or perhaps it would take on some other form I thought.

The other day I finally completed a hand bound copy of book as. It took many months to finish photographing and working out all the images (photographed edges of books) for this 150 page bookwork, so it feels satisfying now to finally be able to hold and read through this rather simple and very thick flip book.

(Friday, December 4th, 2015)

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I decided to add an audio recording today, since I always felt that this piece needed to be read out loud. Besides, I recently got a new mic which I’m really happy working with.

(Tuesday, January 11th, 2022)

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The following is the text version of the poem, which I finished writing on July 28th, 2015. It’s the poem that I used in the book as bookwork:

book as

book as practice

book as loss

book as fracture

book as cough

book as query

book as she

book as pigeon

book as we

book as story

book as thought

book as spine

book as knot

book as trace

book as sound

book as silence

book as found

book as sliver

book as scrap

book as memory

book as splat

book as island

book as scent

book as vessel

book as dent

book as blur

book as flight

book as fusion

book as site

book as tender

book as chance

book as hope

book as glance

book as inhale

book as exhale

book as field

book as fold

book as scrawl

book as sip

book as remnant

book as lip

book as gesture

book as sign

book as drawing

book as line

book as glimmer

book as bit

book as scar

book as grit

book as blood

book as bone

book as structure

book as home

book as body

book as hand

book as river

book as land

book as warning

book as wrinkle

book as weight

book as signal

book as ocean

book as sky

book as where

book as why

book as walking

book as breath

book as mountain

book as rest

book as questions

book as tune

book as ashes

book as dune

book as sweat

book as string

book as fiction

book as spring

book as shiver

book as light

book as shadow

book as night

book as archive

book as map

book as shoreline

book as tap

book as darkness

book as deep

book as witness

book as weep

book as struggle

book as dream

book as shelter

book as spleen

book as tangled

book as heap

book as wonder

book as sleep

book as kindling

book as beast

book as freedom

book as feast

book as mass

book as mess

book as more

book as less

book as seedling

book as scratch

book as prism

book as patch

book as lungs

book as heart

book as choice

book as start

book as wound

book as pickle

book as fable

book as scribble

book as shutter

book as sigh

book as stutter

book as eye

book as comfort

book as flow

book as flapping

book as slow

book as whisper

book as wave

book as murmur

book as grave

book as is

book as if

book as word

book as whiff

book as shovel

book as spoon

book as book

book as moon

book as touch

book as ear

book as birthplace

book as here

book as spoken

book as heard

book as wing

book as bird

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This image shows part of my process back in 2013.

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