Sometimes a project comes along that’s too cool to pass up, even when you think you’ll probably have to build a time machine to finish on time. In this case, it was an art show benefit for Baltimore poetry group LitMore honoring the late great Bmore poet Chris Toll. Chris was an early supporter of my literary magazine, the light ekphrastic, submitting both poetry and collages. More importantly, though, he made me feel like what I was doing was worthwhile — to hear it from a member of Bmore poetry royalty meant a lot.

Go to the event, “The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Inventions,” on June 30

Each artist was given a line from the above poem, and mine was “but all she believes in,” an absolute gift to interpret. I knew I wanted to make a book, but I also wanted to be able to display it in a new sort of way…so I started by painting and cutting the paper…

…and then, I started sewing it together…

…I broke out the Shrinky Dinks…

…and wrote a poem about what it’s like trying (and failing, sometimes) to make something new. In the end, I wound up with something dreamy and poemy, but also a little dark. Maybe it’ll float away and Chris will see it in the clouds…

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