[San Francisco]: Tangram, 2008. Hand-sewn, 5.5×8.5″, no page numbers, no price listed. (Colophon: “One hundred fifty copies printed from Monotype English O. S. on Zerkall.”)
With thanks to the author.
The cover image, I imagine by the poet-painter himself: a line drawing of a guy under a hat with a long staff, striding along, a moon looking down over a pine branch—maybe piñon? Hello, John, and a fine greeting this lovely letterpress pamphlet of poems, starting with:
First crocus
the nearest star
a little closer.
And then I notice, in finer type across the page to my left, the “Author’s note:”
When reading these poems, consider adding longer than customary silence between them, as if they were one to a page. Think of Miles on Kind of Blue, or Monk on Bags’ Groove, a hop-dwell-skip-jump across the middle of a stream.
Oh, yeah . . . Greetings, first crocus, hey, you remind me . . .
I leave off saying any more, here, just share a couple more, as usuall, randomly selected:
Travelers gone
the sound of the ferry
rocked by the sea.
Sky darkening
I fold a letter
before the ink is dry.
About 60 more, where those came from. And a deep bow to my traveller friend from El Rito, New Mexico.
Bill
Wordfield's Haikai Pub 