Thursday, August 19, 2010

New Pie In The Sky Press website!

Check out my new website at:
www.pieintheskypress.com/

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Study for the Possibility of Hope





The printing is nearly complete on my latest edition, Study for the Possibility of Hope, by poet Dennis Phillips.

Paul Vangelisti writes, “ Dennis Phillips, in Study for the Possibility of Hope, embarks on a speculative and finally optimistic version of the pastoral, examining the poem’s (and our) place in the natural world. As he was also at the time working on his novel Hope (Green Integer, 2007), one can’t help noting the aptness of some of the poet’s musings in relation to that other world of language. For the poet, Hope becomes both a device and a destination: ‘a boat moored in a glassy cove.’

“In this book, with ‘slow surface,’ its careful and often droll meanderings, Dennis Phillips shows himself to be a poet’s poet, a true, in Heidegger’s words, ‘shepherd of Being.’”

The images of native California plants and The San Gabriel Mountains on double gatefold spreads reference the view from the poet’s porch where the poems were conceived.

These are pictures of the printer's/binder's proof.

American Academy of Bookbinding



Early this summer I spent 2 perfect weeks at the American Academy of Bookbinding in Telluride, Colorado. I studied french-style fine leather binding with renowned bookbinder, Monique Lallier. One of the books I made was yet another version of Azusa: a sequel by Paul Vangelisti. This time the book is covered in scarlet Harmatan goat with underlay and onlay cover decoration and a green leather fly. I think this is the very best one yet.