Week 16: Shroud, Chapter 4: Bingo in Bynum

   Week 16's book-of-the-week... the final chapter of the Shroud book... is titled Bingo in Bynum. The book is one more section of the large quilt that composes the book Shroud. Chapter 4 is about the rituals and traditions that a family creates, the memory of those traditions, and the connection of memory with the landscape of a place.

the whole quilt square...

   Two quilt squares set in the card-trick design were used to embody the actions of tradition and ritual. A 1978 US Geological Survey map of Chatham County, North Carolina was cut into pieces for one part of the quilt. Arches® handmade paper dyed with walnut, cochineal, osage orange, madder, and brazil wood was used for the other pieces of the card-trick design. Rather than being sewn, the pieces were glued onto a sheet of clover pattern Thai kozo.

title and top card-trick square

The poem Bingo in Bynum was letterpress printed onto handmade Japanese unryu (cloudpaper) kozo using 14-point Bookman type.

close-up of the map pieces

lower square...

This is the poem:

Bingo in Bynum

         

Cabin by the river

strung with colored lights

across the porch

Front door,

paint pealing

opens to wood stove

warmth

and a small fir

stuck in a coffee can...

and decorated with tinsel,

popcorn, and paper chains

Aroma of 

Christmas dinner

from the tiny kitchen.

It smells so good

the stomach 

protests the wait

No presents anywhere

but a table

set up

along the wall

laden with 

socks and soaps

candles and crafts

toys and ties...

it’s Christmas Bingo 

in Bynum.

Clyde Jone's house, Bynum NC