Collage Poems and Recontextualized Reading

Recently I’ve spent a lot of time chopping up old National Geographic magazines to use as material for my latest endeavor, creating motion collages for the Holy Spirits ep “The Afternoon’s Blood.” In order to keep my sanity and balance out all the hours in front of the computer I’ve started reading a little more than usual. Partly because Michael of Holy Spirits has turned me on to books I never would have known existed otherwise and partly because reading makes me day dream, a lot. I’ve always had a hard time focusing on a book for longer than a few pages, I would constantly find passages or even single words that would spark a train of thought that I couldn’t resist following. Next thing I know, 15 minutes go by and I’m still staring at the same page. Over the years I’ve come to accept that I can’t finish a book the way others can, so I now approach reading differently. Its more of a creative/meditative exploration and I don’t fight what I once considered ADD. Now, after 15 minutes of staring at page, is the point where I typically grab my sketchbook.

A few months back I did a couple writing experiments but nothing really became of it.. until I couldn’t find a bookmark. I tossed one of these in Emerson’s “Nature” and spent the next hour moving it around the page finding different word associations and new meanings within the text, it was a new book. I had just turned reading into an entirely new activity for myself. I found I wasn’t reading the book at all but making my own story with the pieces that shown through the cuts. It opened up a new realm of day dream inducing possibilities.

Having cut out countless pages of old Nat Geos for my collages, I have an apartment full of clippings that have nothing better to do than be turned into more of these. I’ve started hand laminating a few so they withstand normal bookmark handling and will likely be selling the first run at the Space Space event Dec. 4th in Queens. They’re completely handmade and one of a kind, I couldn’t duplicate one exactly if tried. This is just the beginning of these and I think I’ll eventually set up a shop to start getting these in the hands/books of fellow day dreamers.

If you’d like one of these sooner or have any requests you can email me (thinkorsmile at gmail) and we can talk. Looking forward to hearing what you think about these!

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