Poetry book
Usually I print my annual poetry book at the end of the year, after months of deliberation: what poem to choose, what book structure aligns with the poem, which colors, which paper, which printing method/s? “What Kind of Times Are These,” featuring a poem by Adrienne Rich, is my response to the invasion of ICE in Minnesota. I printed it in January 2026. Is this my 2026 poetry book? Or simply a protest book, featuring a poet who wrote resonant protest poems? TBD…
Many artist printed protest posters. So many, so powerful! My contribution to the resistance was this simple protest poetry book, with gratitude to the outspoken Adrienne Rich.
For the cover I screen printed an image of a forest on BFK Rives paper.
The text is letterpress printed from photopolymer plates. Since the poem includes images of trees, I arranged the lines as if trees in a forest, mirroring the slanted position of trees in the cover image.
The two images of trees on the inside of the book were letterpress printed.
What Kind of Times Are These
by Adrienne Rich
There’s a place between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphill
and the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadows
near a meeting-house abandoned by the persecuted
who disappeared into those shadows.
I’ve walked there picking mushrooms at the edge of dread, but don’t be fooled
This isn’t a Russian poem, this is not somewhere else but here,
our country moving closer to its own truth and dread,
its own ways of making people disappear.
I won’t tell you where the place is, the dark mesh of the woods
meeting the unmarked strip of light—
ghost-ridden crossroads, leafmold paradise:
I know already who wants to buy it, sell it, make it disappear.
And I won’t tell you where it is, so why do I tell you
anything? Because you still listen, because in times like these
to have you listen at all, it’s necessary
to talk about trees.
What Kind of Times Are These
2026
Screen print, letterpress print
Sewn pamphlet binding
4″ x 5.5″ (closed), 5.5″ x 8″ (open)
Limited edition of 50
$35
