nichepoetryandprose

In March, I promised information on a new project I am undertaking, Bookmarks and Dog Ears. I have lots of projects on the go, at various stages of completion, but I find I need something new and creative to invigorate my writing process. In April, I began a new endeavour, a poetry manuscript about bookmarks, those bits of ephemera left to mark a place in a book.

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I first became interested in this project when the owner of Dog Eared Books in Oromocto, showed me a binder full of the bookmarks she has collected from used books coming into the store. Perusing the binder is fascinating: it contains photos, grocery lists, cash register tapes, old letters, money, even a dreidel. I imagined a manuscript of poems and drawings built around the variety of the bookmarks – their physical structure, purpose, history and symbolism. After a little research, I was caught up in the way bookmarks are an expression of the Human activity of reading a book. I am interested in the historic use of bookmarks, the past of a well-used bookmark, how bookmarks are linked to feelings about reading and the fate of the bookmark in the digital world. 

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With the help of the Library Director at the L.P. Fisher Public Library in Woodstock, I have been able to identify some libraries where bookmarks are also collected, so I will have no shortage of subject matter.

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To give you an idea of the type of poem that this project could generate, I will tell you about my response to a bookmark collected from books at the Saint Paul Public Library in Minnesota. To see a short video of some of their bookmarks, click here. 

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The bookmark that interested me the most was a 3” by 3” black and white photo of a woodland scene. Perhaps my preference is related to the many photos I took of the canopies of woodland trees during my Master’s thesis research. In the photo, you can see the trunk of an older poplar and, in the background, a group of about eight younger trees, their trunks curved and bent dramatically downwards. The photo is a study in contrasts between the dark trees and the bright skylight filtered through the leaves. 

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After a little research I discovered that Minnesota had a strange winter last year, with heavy snow and rain over a five day period after a relatively mild winter. Some of the woodland trees, burdened with over 20 inches of heavy snow, bent under the weight. Many have not recovered, according to the Extension Department of the University of Minnesota. To read about the effect of the winter on these trees, click here.

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I don’t know if the photo is actually a response to the snowstorm, but most bookmarks are anonymous and speak to different people in various ways. To me, the photo represents the photographer’s need to document the result of the snow event. The owner of the photo may have been unhappy at the memory of the storm or the consequences to a well-known bit of woodland.

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I am still feeling my way in this project, but here is an early attempt to capture this particular bookmark in poetry.

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storm damage

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tried to take a photo 

in black and white—

bent trees in the summer woodland

birch over-laden by winter snow

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a photo to capture

desecration of forest—

behind a straight and sturdy

trunk of aspen

a clump of saplings craft

an archway in forest

usher of summer light

trembling leaves

against sky

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no wish to remember

five endless days of storm

heavy snow, burdened with rain

a charming path through woodland

rendered impassable

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abandoned

the photo

in a book

about despair

after alteration

no recovery, no hope

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A rather dismal interpretation of why the photo was forgotten in a book. What does the photo-used-as-bookmark say to you?

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All my best,

Jane