Some of my favorite things: poems, book arts, and mystery

The Prague Municipal Library

What is it about towers of books? Or really, any art objects made from books? A few months ago I posted about the gorgeous book sculptures that were showing up in Edinburgh libraries and other municipal buildings. There seems a magic to them that goes beyond repurposing pages and bindings. As if the new book object makes manifest the imagination in a new way.  You can see more of the Edinburgh sculptures here.

"This is for you" The Banksy of the book world has left these lyrical sculptures all over Edinburgh

The Prague Municipal Library is now home to a spiraling tower of hundreds of carefully stacked books assembled by Slovakian born artist Matej Kren. Dubbed Idiom, the staggering installation reaches up to the ceiling, and Kren installed a mirror inside the funnel to create the illusion of a magical, unending spire of books.


Another story that made me glad I'm alive today is the npr piece about the harried parent who has decided to read a poem a day. In the kitchen by the toaster, in the car, even in the port-a-john this parent has found peace by spending a minute each day being transported by poetry. What would the world look like if we all did this? Maybe even for one day?

A Poem A Day: Portable, Peaceful And Perfect

by ALAN HEATHCOCK

EnlargeiStockphoto.com

December 26, 2011

Alan Heathcock is the author of Volt.

I hadn't slept well, had to get my three kids to three different schools in three different cities, had deadlines piled on deadlines. I leaned my head against my bookcases and there, at eye-level, was a book of poetry by Mary Oliver.

I randomly opened to the poem "Egrets." Like magic, I was pushing through catbrier to the edge of a pond, where I watched "a spindle of bleached reeds" become egrets and "unruffled, sure, by the laws of their faith not logic, they opened their wings softly and stepped over every dark thing."

I closed the book, transformed, bolstered from the inside out.

May you enjoy these images and ideas --- and hopefully they will spark ideas in me or in you that are  practical, transformative, and magical as well. Happy December 28th


Read more: Matej Kren's 'Idiom' Is a Spellbinding Tower Made From Hundreds of Books |