Week 44: The Moving Map

   The book-the-week for week 44 is titled The Moving Map. This tiny collaborative story is written using the exquisite corpse writing prompt method. The term exquisite corpse refers to a collection of words or images which are assembled from separate entities to create a whole. In this writing exercise, a new writer created each successive page by using only their imagination and the preceding story line of the pages before it. With this type of story telling, there is no guarantee that the end will turn out as the initiator expected. It is a collaboration with passive influence of the separate writers. Six other writers contributed to The Moving Map... Michelle, Deb, Kim, Hie Yun, Sang Yun,  and Melissa. This artist provided the title and last page.

the handwritten title on the cover

   The book was handwritten in pencil, marker, and pen on a sheet of 80 weight drawing paper. The paper was folded and cut so it could be folded into an 8-page soft cover  booklet.

flat... with a slit inside

opening and unfolding

Each writer had one minute to write the content of their page before they passed the book on to the next person. Illustrations were permissible too. This is the story of The Moving Map...

page 1

page 2

page 3

page 4

page 5

page 6

last page

   Historically, the term exquisite corpse was created as a parlor game by surrealist artists living in Paris in the first half of the 1900's. The most famous of these artists included André Breton, Yves Tanguy, Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Prévert, Benjamin Péret, Joan Miró, and Man Ray. In the game, one person drew an image on a piece of paper then hid all or part of the drawing while the next person drew an image connected to it... and so on until an assemblage of imagery was produced. In writing, a similar result was achieved with words and phrases. The surrealists used the exquisite corpse form to prove the notion that randomness can play a role in creating meaningful art.

André Breton, Jacqueline Lamba, Yves Tanguy, Exquisite Corpse 1938

  Prior to this, the idea was used in children's books with the pages cut into sections. For instance, the top sections showing the head of a person or animal, the middle sections the torso, and the bottom sections the legs or lower parts. In these ineractive books, children could mix and match the images by turning the page sections to create odd and silly looking characters or story lines.

William Grimaldi, In The Toliet (1821)

On a more serious note, the first exquisite corpse may have been the flap-page anatomy book Catoptrum microcosmicum by Johann Remmelin (1583-1632). In this book, the detailed drawings of human anatomy were drawn from the corpse's of deceased subjects... the real exquisite corpse.

Whether The Moving Map is a collection of places in a dream, body parts, random images, or words... it is connected by the interaction of the people who experience it... as are all books.

Week 43: Captain's Log: Soundings in Fathoms and Feet

   This week's book, the second part of the Captain's Log series is titled Soundings in Fathoms and Feet. This poem is handwritten on a depth soundings map... as was the previous Captain's Log entry. In this case, the map is a digital copy of a vintage December 18, 1976 map of the ocean around the Bahamas Islands in the Caribbean Sea. The original map, measuring 30 inches by 56 inches, has been reduced to 14 x 17 inches. The book can be stored rolled up as a scroll or tacked to a wall, just as a utilitarian map might be posted.

rolled

handprinted poem on the map

the map title and date

close up of the Berry Islands to the Andros

Soundings in Fathoms and Feet

Past the Berry Islands

to the Andros,

the soundings in fathoms and feet

map the Tongue of the Ocean…

Who knew 

one day this would be

some Shangri-La

some Eden for the rich and famous 

to cavort and commune.

A wilderness isolated 

by wind and water with 

blue holes of mystery and mythic monsters.

Once there were towns 

built on dreams of glory and gold

but they crumbled in antiquity

because the soil wasn’t fit

for anything but salt.

From the sea or from tears,

it’s all the same.

In those days, there stood outposts

built for warriors, smugglers, and pirates

until the wars were over, the goods were freed, 

and the pirates rehabilitated, or not.

Now, new castles have been built 

amid the palm trees and sandy beaches.

They shimmer and gleam in the Caribbean sun

Their beaches and tiki bars

are filled with the sun worshipers of modernity.

Seeking respite

from the stress and boredom of their lives,

they lie on the golden beaches

sipping rum-spiked fruit juices 

with colorful umbrellas perched in the glasses

matching the patterns of their island clothes, 

their pink cheeks and bellies, their bold daydreams. 

Elixir of pleasure bubbles up from the blue holes,

shimmers in the cays and channels,

and floats on the Tongue of the Ocean

as the Bahama Islands, a small string of gems

shines from the belt of the Earth.

Week 42: Captain's Log: March 7, 1988, How Low Can You Go?

   This week's book, How Low Can You Go? is actually one part of a series titled Captain's Log. The series is inspired by several 20- to 40-year-old nautical maps of the Florida Keys, Bahamas, and areas around the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. How Low Can You Go? is a poem that focuses on Key West, Florida.. However, it might be about a wider area. The poem was handwritten on a digital print of one section of a 27-year old depth soundings map of the Intracoastal Waterway between the Florida coast, Sugarloaf Key, and Key West, Florida. When maps are involved, one tends to think the boundary lines and landmarks are actually independent of each other... but often the perceived differences that labels create are only imagined... or simply a matter of perception.

the log entry...

This is the poem.

The map rolled out on the table

shows the depth soundings in feet,

2, 4, 1, 10, 8, 10, 4, 4, 4, 7, 2, 1, 1, 3, 2, 2

of the intracoastal waterway between Florida’s shore, 

the Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge,

and the islands of the Florida Keys to the south.

The most famous key, Key West,

arrived in modern ideology

through the drinking spots and ramblings 

of certain writers, musicians, and actors;

and the close-gated compounds 

of a few presidents, politicians, and backroom big-wigs.

An area no greater than 7.4 square miles...

Key West now hosts a carnival 

of tourists and snow birds, 

who amble along the little streets

past the Sloppy Joe Bar, kiosks of flamingo snow globes,

and Key West’s most famous landmark,

a once useful cement sewer drain 

painted with the words

"Southernmost Point Continental U.S.A."  

Ballast Key, 9 miles south, is the REAL southernmost point.

close-up of Key West and the depth sounds around it

a transfer print of the cement sewer-pipe marker

Week 41: Map

   This week's book is another poem... Map.

the book in it's paper wrapper

marbled cover paper and handmade paper title plate

accordion pages of pastepaper and letterpress

Coming to this place

turning turning turning
Where was I going?

Where am I going?
as the earth spins

I stand lost  
at this crossroad

seen at a crossroad

Week 40: On Sammy's Street

   The book-of-the-week for Week 40 is a small accordion book titled On Sammy's Street. The cover paper was hand-marbled and the title plate was handwritten with Sharpie® marker and colored with watercolor pencils. A yellow satin ribbon wraps the tall, thin 9 by 3-inch book and ties with a bow at the midline.

The front cover board and a satin  ribbon

Open the covers and see a folded, single-page map inside.

opening

Inside  the covers is a black and white lithograph print of a map, hand colored with watercolor pencils  and with text handwritten with Sharpie® marker. The story is centered on a 16-month-old's memories of his small world of four streets, a golf course, and a park.

a bird's eye view of the route to the park...

a close up of the map and it's story

   Neighborhoods are geographical areas that are essential to people's lives. Everyday life occurs in neighborhoods. Routines, comfort, and a sense of identity are all integral parts of neighborhoods. When a child is very young, the neighborhood is practically their whole world. The sights, smells, and feel of that first neighborhood are often imprinted on the subconscious of a person for their whole life. The story of a first neighborhood will often be a magic key to the choices, fears, and preferences experienced in later life, long after the first neighborhood is years in the past. 

   On Sammy's Street doesn't have a great plot. There are no chase scenes and no romantic episodes. There is no mystery and the characters are not fleshed out. The story is told in the stilted simplistic language of a 16-month old child, Sammy. He takes about Mommy and Daddy, Pop-pop, and Gram Kathy. His biggest accomplishments are pouring water into his pool, eating cherry tomatoes he picked himself, and driving his little red plastic car. His adventures are going to the park in his blue wagon or going along when his Daddy and Pop-Pop play golf. There is no real danger in this neighborhood. It is filled with natural beauty and places to play and find joy. Sammy is a pretty lucky little guy. Hopefully, all of his neighborhoods will be this way.

Week 39: Happy Birthday!

   The book-of-the-week for Week 39 is titled Happy Birthday! This book is presented as a pop-up birthday card. The cover is the envelope, which is covered with collaged-on pieces from a map of Virginia and a hand drawn map... starting in Bonn, Germany and ending in Raleigh, North Carolina. The cities on the envelope are listed in a loopy path.

the envelope and card...

   The card imagery and text is a combination of letterpress printing, stenciling, and pen and ink. The front of the card has an image of a house with a red roof. The roof was letterpress printed using a large font wooden type "V" which was printed upside down. The turquoise door was also printed using an even larger block of wood type. The black windows, door knobs, and curtains were printed over the turquoise door using more large font wood type and metal border type. The text was printed with 14-point Benbow type and 30-point Goudy Hand-tooled type. 

This is the story on the front page of the card...

It was a dark and rainy

night... She came home

tired after work. No one

remembered her birthday.

Oh well, at least the cat

would want to cuddle...

She reached for the front

door knob and looked

over her shoulder, a big

black raven was perched

in the tree!!! staring at 

her!!! and the limbs were 

making scary shadows on

the ground! Some wild

animal was crying in the

woods!!! Was that a

snake rustling in the...

leaves?! She reached for

the doorknob... She...

opened the door...

The pull tab was painted with orange ink then overprinted with 14-point Sans serif type. The rain was stenciled on with acrylic paint and the shadow behind the pull tab door was hand drawn with pen and ink. When the pull tab is pulled the door swings open revealing the words...

Oh! Oh! Oh!

Then the card is opened to reveal the spread. Five-color letterpress printing of surprise birthday wishes and a handwritten note to the birthday girl show she isn't alone with her cat and a bunch of scary animals after all.

Surprise! Surprise!

From there to here, the map of a year has some surprises and some things you can count on.  I'm so glad your map has brought you here!

Love,

K

Week 38: Lost Again?

   The book-of-the-week for Week 38 is a pop-up book titled Lost Again? The cover is a vintage map of Miami, Florida with blue linen book cloth spine and hand-drawn sign post with the title, Lost Again? written on it.

the cover, a map of Miami

   The title page is the same sign, hand-drawn with colored pencils. The paper used for the entire book was 100-weight cover paper from the French Paper Company. A combination of markers and colored pencils were used for the illustrations. Alternate page spreads incorporate pop-up mechanisms.

the title page

This is the story...

page 1... So why don't you just stop and ask someone?

So why don't you just stop and ask someone?

I figure they'd probably give me the wrong directions...

page 2, box pop-out with swinging arm..

It's this way, Dude.

Lost again Hon?

Hun, You're always late. Why don't you try using a map?

I would, but I can never get...

refolding the map, vee-fold pop-up

it refolded!

So why don't you use maps?

So, Why don't you use maps?

All those Lines make my brain explode!

an exploding head volvelle

And...

So, why are you afraid to ask for directions?

So, tell me why you are afraid to ask directions?

I think I'll look silly.

ha! ha! box pop-up

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

What do you do when you're lost? ... I just keep driving around

I never ask directions.

What do you do when you're lost?

I just keep driving around, and eventually I get there or give up.

...spiral across the centerfold pop-up

Happy Trails! 

The End

What a place to be lost!