Crosfield & Purvis – February 2013
Linda Crosfield and Meredith Purvis traded art and writing. Meredith shared this image of a book she made, entitled “Junk,” with Linda:
In response, Linda wrote this poem:
Book
keeper of stories
page turns; a quickening
consolation on a cold night
up-past-bedtime friend
in Kerala, a book of healing
written a thousand years ago
a book has eyes that watch
the one who holds it
a book is never owned
but safe-kept for a time
a place to hide a social note
its tenebrous reply
the way a Coptic book lies flat
remarkable, this outstretched hand
space nudges script nudges space
the promise of an empty page
* * * *
Linda shared this poem with Meredith:
What’s Best For Us
Chrysotile sounds like
a semi-precious stone
an island off the coast of South America
the name of an exotic dancer
and in a way it is
the way it skips
on the edge of breath
to unsuspecting lungs
where it clings like a pole dancer
in tights adorned with feathers
while suits in the audience
quaff drinks, count money
convinced they know
what’s best for us
In response, Meredith made this “Lung Book” with a scroll of the poem housed in a lung “wrapper” sculpted from moldable latex. (See more photos here.)
Incredibly beautiful work, Meredith and Linda.
Thanks, Heather! I’m so thrilled to read the wonderful poem that Linda created using my little book as inspiration. This was such a fun pairing. 🙂 Long live bookiness!
Meredith! I LOVE it! Thank you, thank you for “getting” my poem. And I loved working on the one that goes with your book. This was an incredible experience in more ways than I could have imagined.
Hurray!!
Great pairing! Loved the poem, loved the two books. The lungs look almost like wings. As if the book were poised to fly.
Thank you so much! It was so wonderful to work from Linda’s words.
Tremendous marriage of images and verse.
Kudos for the brilliant work, Linda & Meredith!
Thank you so much!
Thanks, Greg! It was an amazing experience.
You two are having too much damned fun! Don’t you realize that art-making is all about suffering?
You know there was suffering; you were around when I was wrestling with the poem I ended up ditching!
Loved the Creativity of the book and the Poem.
The lungs/book is so cool, Meredith! And the inspiring poem is wonderful, too!
Thank you, Mia!
Hardly seems enough, but “so cool” is what came to mind for me too. Love the inspiring collaboration of words & images.
OK, I had to look up Coptic…an all but dead language, Kerala…a state in India, and even Chrysotile – Ick. But there’s no such word as Ekphrastic, light or otherwise, so I guess you guys are going to have to try harder.
Bloomers…Coptic is also a form of binding. The earliest bibles were held together that way. They allow the book to lie flat when open. And Ekphrastic needs to be Googled, not dictionaried!
Well done Linda and Meredith !!!
Congratulations on a perfect collaboration!
Thank you Linda and Meredith,
I loved the work, and the collaboration on What’s Best for Us/Lung Book, especially hit me. I hope a union or an international organization dealing with asbestos and workers’ health will negotiate with you to feature this on the front of a magazine, or make beautiful deadly posters/broadsheets and display them everywhere.
Sincerely,
Rita Moir
Vallican, BC