WAKE UP! by E.R. TABIOS

THE AWAKENING: A Long Poem Triptych & Poetics Fragment (theenk books, New York, 2013) is my latest book.  At some point, I had a tiny reproduction of its front cover image -- a painting by the very talented jenifer wofford -- and printed it out.  I had in mind to do a mini-book using that small reproduction.  Well, I did!  And while it shares imagery with THE AWAKENING's front cover, it's not quite the same.  My mini-book is entitled WAKE UP! as the image focuses on the three faces with closed eyes:

The cover has flaps so, actually, when you unfold the flaps, you see more of the context, the original cover to THE AWAKENING.  Here's the front cover with unfolded flaps and back cover:

The mini-book has one long accordion-style page.  When you open the book, the first thing you see is this folded page bearing the instructions, "Pull for Instructions."

When you pull open the page, you then see the text:

Open the flaps

To uncover

The Real Picture

To Read

A Book

Is to discover
A World

Is to AWAKE--

See

The Revelations

Of former secrets!

Now:

                ACT!

So where shall we "shelve" this book?  Well, why not on the transparent Philippe Starck's "Ghost Chair"!  Because when you look at this chair, you still see or "discover / A World"!

 

 

 

 

 

BUT OF COURSE! A LIBRARY CHAIR!

As soon as I saw this "library chair" -- a chair that turns into a ladder -- I knew it'd be perfect for SitWithMoi and "Books on Chairs"!  So, I acquired it!  Here's the chair evolving into a ladder:

So absolutely nifty! 


[Prov.: Etsy/Studebaker Miniatures. Chair Size: 5" length, 2.5" width and depth]

HAIKU by IVY ALVAREZ

So much can be made from a single sheet of paper!  Through the acts of folding and judicious use of folded spaces, Ivy Alvarez created a "book" of haiku "for dear friends."  Lucky enough to be one of those friends, I now can add her collection to SitWithMoi's Books on Chairs!  First, her process.  Here's the single piece of paper:

Folded, the paper creates a mini-book like so:

To read Ivy's book, you just unfold the paper the way it leads you to unfold it.  Here's the result of the first unfolding, the opening haiku:

silk, threads wind-jostled

red leaf caught between the bars

soft saw-tooth ripples

The next unfolding reveals two haiku; you can click on the image to enlarge it and read the lovelies for yourself!

The next unfolding reveals another pair of haiku.  These are in larger-sized fonts to befit the larger unfolded spaces:

Another unfolding reveals the back of the paper featuring four haiku

Now, where shall we form friendly Ivy's wonderful haiku?  Well, I think it should keep company with another mini-book of the same size and also created from a single sheet of paper, FLORULA LUDOVICIANA by Marthe Reed. They are a cheerful pair shelved on a rocking bench with a comfy rush seat and throw:

Books work so hard for us!  I love it when books get comfortable, too!

 

 

 

 

SWING WITH MOI!

I couldn't resist this iron mini reproduction of a "Swingasan" described as "Part cozy Papasan, part carefree porch swing"!

The "Swingasan" is being marketed as a phone holder, but obviously has other uses (a tiny stuffed animal was lazing on a display piece).

Anyway, I just know there's a mini-book out there lookin' to swing!


[Prov.: Pier 1 Imports/Napa, Size: 11" height, 3" width, 2.5" depth]

MOM— by CRAIG COTTER

2.5 cups of rice
water up two and a half knuckle points
boil, when boiling, let boiling open-lidded until water is gone
then ten minutes reduced heat
--Mom's recipe for making rice outside of the ubiquitous rice-cooker

 

This is another Poems-For-All booklet from the generous gift of curator Richard Hansen! This 1.75" X 2” mini-book features a poem, “mom—“ by Craig Cotter:

As you can see by the above cover, it’s an image of rice and then the red band with the title and byline.  This design is seemingly simple, but has more depth after one has read the poem (below).  Seemingly simple, too, because the interior is just one folded page to show a title page and the poem:

Here is the text of the poem:

mom—

the boy

doesn't want

another spoonful of steamed

buddha brand jasmine rice—

he reaches for a chopstick

propped on a bowl of tom yum instead.

     now

tapping the stick everywhere

and waving it in the air

he accepts a spoonful of red fish.

Reading the poem, one understands the cover design: the preferred red (of the “red fish”) in the foreground with the rice in the background.

The synchronistic reference to rice, and thus its cover image, works nicely on the back cover because of Poems-For-All’s featured slogan, “SCATTER LIKE SEEDS.”  The rice, then, becomes a visual metaphor for poems which PFA wishes to scatter “like seeds” throughout the universe.

Nicely done!  And where shall we “shelve” this book?  Well, as befits the Filipino tradition of having white rice with each and every meal, Mom used to cook rice for the household.  So, I immediately thought of shelving this book on the mini sewing chair I associate with Mom.  It already has a book shelved on it, “I’M NOBODY! WHO ARE YOU?” by Emily Dickinson.  But I thought Craig Cotter’s “mom—“ might be a nice companion for Emily (that poem sounds like Emily needs it), might even provide some comic relief.  Entonces: