Distracting Myself...

...from the thought of hospital tomorrow, I picked up this book, which you read about here.    I wrote a poem for it at the time, which has been sitting in my sketchbook...today, I edited it.  So...it went from

Dreaming the landscape
a blur of colour and
movement
a rickle o' stanes
glinting in the light.

to

dreaming landscape
blur of colour
and movement
rickle o' stanes
glint in  the light.

I'm happier with that, it's more condensed, more direct.  I'm not a poet, not really.  I know bits and pieces about how things are supposed to work, but really, I just write it down, and then take away all the bits that don't seem to belong.  It's reminiscent of sculpture; the sculptor works with a whole piece, and takes away the bits that don't belong, to find the form within. 

So...what to do with it?  My original thought was to have words on every page, but that didn't seem right...plus, I was worried about the pen bleeding through to the other side, as the paper is quite thin.  It didn't, as it happens, but I'm glad I made the decision I did, a word on the first and every second page.  I've spread out the first few pages (just as well they're not attached yet), to let you see what that looks like.

Looking at that second image, it would be interesting to make a stepped book like this, showing the whole poem at a glance...one for the sketchbook...  But I digress.  I had intended to stitch this piece: looking at it now, I don't think it needs it.  I only stitch when stitch would add something to the work.  I know that's not the fashion, and probably hasn't ever been...but it's right for this piece.  The other book I made at the same time will, I suspect, need stitch, as well as a poem.  First, though it needs a good trim; looking at it, I realise that some of the pages are smaller than others, and I'd rather they were the same. 

The last thing to do for this book, though, is to fasten the pages together, a simple three hole binding. Not sure what yarn I'll use, or if I'll plait some threads together, so that's for another day.  Perhaps a heavy gold thread, to relate back to that last line of the poem.   Meanwhile, though,  I've made a template, a simple piece of paper cut to size and folded to work out where the holes should be.  When I'm feeling better, I'll use a hammer and nail to make the holes, using the template to show me where to put them.  For now, though, it'll need to wait.