Poetic Collage- Sunset Reflections

A chapbook can be like a mosaic, or even a collage, of thoughts and illustrations. As the illustrator of the recent chapbook “Sunset Reflections” by poet Lenore Plassman, I had an interesting challenge. I needed to illustrate each poem in such a way that it evoked or at least illustrated the feeling set down in the words. Sometimes I felt successful at this, other times I’m not sure I hit the mark. The author was happy with my work and I was fairly happy with the result. At each step, though, it was a partnership, my images with the poetry, different feelings and pieces coming together like bits of paper forming a collage. Here is one of the poems from the chapbook. Click on the image if you want to learn more about it.

-Black Friar-
Three-lobed prints sooted my cheeks forever
in that first awareness,
the flapping incredulity
and then the caws flooded
their tide never ceasing.
I ran to make the first entreaty
to an unseen 911 employee
and finally stood there at the apex
between garage and back yard;
It’s just a crow but can’t you do something?
The economics of a possible blown transformer
caused the officer to pose the crow’s plight
to the power company;
back to hoeing weeds and seeding lettuce,
fellow crows echoed distress
and warning to strafing starlings
as the morning waned.
My voice then woke the power company
my inquiry as to their whereabouts
the male voice telling me
that the officer had related
a dead crow incident
and my avowal that he was not dead;
his wing beats penetrated the air even now.

Glad tidings rang from crow outpost to crow outpost
when the lineman nudged their caught comrade free
the maiden flight shortened as he fell
from a pine
his leg bent and broken.
Crow drums continued to throb through the night
and the following day
as their maimed companion hopped through sprinkler water
cat kibble and bread proffered
another black friar would keep vigil.
Odd now this entity that is normal
this lack of strident whistle blowing;
left within my sphere of earth bound garden
bereft at not knowing for sure
the end of the tale
of my black one legged monk,
I bend again to hoe
the absence of the crow drums
palpable in the creases of my fingertips.

-Lenore Plassman

Now, I was supposed to post a photo, so I’ll do that too. Here’s the true collage – the beautiful cover. The artist who assembled that, started with a photograph of a somewhat cluttered backyard and turned it into a peaceful waterscape that was perfect for the book’s cover! Turning one thing into another at the same time as you combine different elements – that’s a true expression of what a collage can be.