#poetbook

[leviathofnoesia]

A Fools.Grimoire

lets just call this a notepad or you can read the title

for the telegram users ;)

[poetbook]

Brian Lucas illuminates collaborative 'Poetbook'

by Evan Karp

Brian Lucas painted the covers of a few blank hardbound books, then got local poets to contribute to what became "Poetbook."

  From around 1996 to 1999, Brian Lucas edited a poetry magazine and chapbook press called Angle, the issues of which were stapled and letter-size and included a formidable roster of contributors, including Barbara Guest, Paul Vangelisti, Clark Coolidge and Cole Swensen. A visual artist and musician as well, Lucas hand-painted three of the five covers of Angle, which might be seen as a foreshadowing of his current project: "Poetbook: The Illuminated Manuscripts."

It started when Lucas purchased a few 20-page white hardbound books with blank pages in February. He painted the covers and couldn't decide what to do with the interiors.

"Although I also write poetry," he says via e-mail, "putting my own work in the books didn't appeal to me (although the two disciplines may orbit about and inform each other, along with my music projects, I keep each practice strictly separate)."

At the suggestion of his longtime friend, the poet and City Lights editor Garrett Caples - who is also in one of the issues of Angle - Lucas asked local poets for contributions.

Lucas writes each poem by hand. He then "illuminates" the pages in watercolor. "That aspect is purely spontaneous," he says. "I endeavor not to obscure any of the text, which to me is the heart of this project.

"By handwriting all the poems I develop a very different relationship with the poems than by just reading them," he continues. "It's an interesting process. I climb into the poems. It's as though I'm following the twists and turns of the writer's mind-paths, feeling their word choices and relating to the work in a more personal way than by just reading the poems."

Now with four of these illuminated books, Lucas has decided to conduct a reading, which will showcase the books and feature some of the local poets therein: a stellar cast that includes Micah Ballard, Cedar Sigo, Sara Larsen, Gillian Conoley and Andrew Joron.

"The reading is for the poets who helped make this project happen," he says. "Without them the books would still be blank."

Original article here.