Excerpt Tuesday – This City is Sad and Angry – Hall

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Today’s excerpt comes from the newest chapbook from Mr. Matthew J. Hall – Pigeons and Peace Doves.  I am excited to present this work to you for a number of reasons – Matthew is both a friend and collaborator (click over to Screaming with Brevity, his website and blog to see more of his work and small press reviews) and I was thrilled when this collection of poems won a competition held by Blood Pudding Press. Shortly after this was announced, he contacted me and asked me to create a work of art for the cover – my very first cover design! – and I was (and continue to be) so honored. As the cover artist, I got to preview the poems and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole chapbook. Several poems in the collection inspired this collage, but this poem,”This City is Sad and Angry”, became the foundation.

Pop over to the Blood Pudding Press Store – here is the link for Pigeons and Peace Doves in particular – to see all of their hand-made chapbook offerings. If you do buy a chapbook from them, not only do you get to read some fabulous poetry, but you can also check off a number of boxes under the heading of “virtuous buying” – small press, independent authors and artists, hand-made, unique, book arts…

Collage and composition by me. Enjoy!

 

32 comments

  1. Marcy, it has been a real privilege working with you through this collaboration and I am so grateful to you for taking the time to create such a fitting image for this collection. Thank you to all your readers for the generous comments and support. I do hope you all enjoy reading Pigeons and Peace Doves as much I enjoy seeing it come to life.

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    1. The feeling is mutual – thank you for the opportunity and for writing a winning chapbook! I wanted to mention that I love the new design of Screaming With Brevity and so I hope some folks head over and check it out and peruse more of your poems, art, and reviews. Talk to you soon!

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    1. It’s my pleasure, Juliet, and thank you for stopping by! I received my copy of Pigeons and Peace Doves today and it looks great. Thank you for sending that to me. I’m looking forward to the future offerings from Blood Pudding Press and perhaps we will get a chance to work together again!

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    1. Thank you so much! I was mentioning to Jill in another comment that when this version of the collage came together, I had an “ah-ha!” moment. So I am glad other people agree! 🙂 Matthew is a great person as well as a talented poet – and it is my pleasure to help promote him a little.

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      1. Collage involves so many components. Trying to get things to work just right, I imagine, is not easy. But those “ah-ha” moments are part of the beauty of the creative process! Again, the cover design looks great, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of Matthew’s poetry.

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  6. really nice Marcy(and Matthew). i found it spot on, to make a pigeon out of this collage (well i hope its a pigeon), a city bird..lovely collage, truly, embroidered with powerful words.

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    1. Thank you, Geo! It’s meant to be a pigeon (I tried to capture that distinctive pigeon profile!). The whole chapbook is very good – and Matthew featured the whole text of “This City is Sad and Angry” on twitter (I retweeted it so it will appear in the Twitter side bar on the IP home page). Check it out!

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    1. Me too! In my next life (or perhaps I was a book artist in a past one – you never know) I want to learn book binding/arts. I have always admired handmade books, so I was psyched when it turned out that is what Blood Pudding Press does. Thank you for the support, Jilanne! It means a lot to me!

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      2. That steamroller is very cool! One of my great regrets is that I never availed myself of the SF Center of the Book while I lived in the Bay Area. If I ever live anywhere nearby again, I will not make that mistake a second time! I enjoyed the post – thank you!

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    1. Thank you, Sunshine! Definitely three cheers for virtuous buying! 😀 I was glad to see that Matthew did post the whole text of this poem through twitter, so everyone can enjoy it, regardless of budget. I retweeted it this evening so folks can see it on the “twitter side bar” of Illustrated Poetry.

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  9. Congratulations on your cover collage as well as other collages [as well as photos you have taken] you have made and shared with us here.

    I am a fairly newbie here and now find myself looking for forward to your posts in my inbox than the poem-a-day from the Poetry Foundation.

    I guess since I am visual and intuitive I like your inclusion of your collages and photos acommpaning each poem. You never distract from the poems but add another juicy way of looking at them.

    Thank you!

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    1. Thank you kindly! I appreciate your feedback – your comment is truly encouraging (and I’m very flattered to be in the same sentence as the Poetry Foundation!) It has been such a pleasure to be able to share poetry and art here and it’s been quite the journey since I started IP a little over a year ago. A warm welcome to you and I hope the posts continue to resonate with you. Please let me know if you have a site or blog, I’d love to visit it.

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    1. Thank you, Jill! When Matthew asked me to do the cover, I was so nervous – what if I can’t come up with anything? What if I come up with an idea, but can’t realize it? The collage went through a number of drafts, but when this version came together, I nodded and went, “yes.”

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    1. Thank you so much! I do try to go in for variety – whatever it takes to go with the poem or the words – and sometimes that takes unexpected turns 😀 I’m looking forward to more posts on The Mexi Movie; I thoroughly enjoyed the ones I’ve read so far, especially your mother’s illustrated poem. Thank you for sharing and translating that for us!

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