Another day and another point of progress in the production
of The Book.
I have decided to produce a Special Edition of the poems in
the Autumn Trees sequence which is
going to be the centrepiece of Flesh Can
Be Bright. I will investigate
getting an edition produced on fine art paper to give full justice to the artwork
which has been produced by three collaborative artists to accompany the
versions of the poems in English, Spanish and Catalan. Toni has designed the front cover in
eye-popping colour.
Although I wrote the original poems it has taken the
participation of three translators, three artists and a designer to produce
this Special Edition so, although my name is on the front cover, there are
another seven people who have made this Edition a reality.
There is a possibility that our local newspaper and radio
station may be involved in the build-up to publication of Flesh Can Be Bright, I am keeping my fingers crossed that something
comes of the efforts to publicise the book.
There is even a remote possibility that I will be able to give a reading
in our local library. The next couple of
months promise to be interesting ones!
On a more practical level the number of people who have
expressed an interest in reserving a copy of Flesh Can Be Bright – and seem to be prepared to put their money to
match their sentiment is growing. In an
edition of 100 copies of the book, each person is a whole percentage point of
the run! I still have a way to go before
the whole edition is taken up! But, two
months to go to publication, I am confident that numbers will grow.
During this time of increasing impetus about the
publication, my reading about the Renaissance has been somewhat laggard. As indeed has been my poetry writing. The practicalities of publication limit fluent
creativity! Or perhaps the nitty-gritty
of getting things organized enough to be ready for printing is a sort of
creativity in itself!
At the end of this weekend I hope to have something to take
to the printers. I live in hope.
