By Jenny Qi
In If These Covers Could Talk, poets interview the visual artists whose works grace their book covers. The result is an engaging discussion of process, vision, and projects. This series is a celebration of collaboration—here, we champion the fruitful conversations taking place both on and behind the cover.
This month, poet Jenny Qi spoke to graphic designer Hilary Steinberg about the cover of Focal Point (Steel Toe Books, 2021).
In If These Covers Could Talk, poets interview the visual artists whose works grace their book covers. The result is an engaging discussion of process, vision, and projects. This series is a celebration of collaboration—here, we champion the fruitful conversations taking place both on and behind the cover.
This month, poet Antonio de Jesús Lopez spoke to artist Anthony Solorzano about the cover of Gentefication (Four Way Books, 2021).
By K. Iver
There are so many gods wanting my soreness. / I can bruise my forehead bowing before so many statues.
“Goldmanite, / use what seeds you can to drape / this mountain in clouds, Muses / in the forest”
By Maria Nazos
“how the body’s slow melting / is the only way / to open a hardened heart / the glacier you enter with dissolving”
By Emily Lawson
“but you held me down, just like this, / possessed, alien, godlike, looking at me, outside of / time—”
By Katie Hale
“There was ugliness, too, in the gallery, though the audioguide / steered me meticulously away.”
I thought there were things we created to survive us, and somewhere else the things we created to survive. Poetic inquiry has shown me the two are indistinct.
We’re honored to have had the chance to explore with Paisley Rekdal the journey of her new collection, Nightingale (Copper Canyon Press).