Palenque Memories

I long for the jungle of Palenque and that rich, pungent aroma of Mayan pyramids. I long for my writing table there, encompassed by hungry flora, seduced by hummingbirds, lulled by images too sublime to recreate in words or graphite or oil. I long to return to that timeless place.

Now this is the Law of the Jungle -- as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back --
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

 ---Rudyard Kipling

The Monochrome View

Poem by L. Nef'fahitit Partlow-Myrick

Photo "Butterfly" by Jennifer Bishop

Tell him it’s a lie.
The ashen hue for sun,
the gunmetal ground for soil,
the pewter pole for fruit-bearing tree,
the cinereous mural wall for fresh field
with its marbleized animalia—

all fallacies.

Show him how to see.
Beyond appearances,
azura days of clarity,
Kelly green gardens of hope,
vermillion walls of a happy home,
kaleidoscope ways of being impervious to
circumstances and unnatural playgrounds—

all possibilities.

Tell him and tell him again and again,
the truth about little black boys and Monarchs,
then pray he flies.

Where my Words & Images Come Together

I’ve found bookmaking to be the perfect medium for channeling my visual-­literary passions simultaneously.  I may start out with an idea for one kind of book, but the finished piece is always a surprise.  All I have to do is trust my creative process implicitly and not be attached to outcomes.   Forget about making perfect art.  It’s all about showing up on the page and keeping the exchange between artist and audience real, from the heart.  And if the work touches people even a little bit, then that’s cool, too.

I am eternally grateful to the woman who first taught me the technical aspects of the craft—master bookmaker Rebecca Childers—and the woman who taught me how to breathe a book alive— Kendra Kopelke, poet, professor, and Director of the University of Baltimore’s Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing Program.  Her classes really opened my mind to the possibilities of what a book can be: an experience.  Ache

Making Books

I love books.   Always have.  I love how they smell and feel, their different textures and sizes, the way they weigh in my hands and lap, and the foreplay of their pages against my fingertips.  I love the personality of their Titles  and  colorful covers and even their solid-colored covers with no text—that’s so sexy. And how their inner parts get  laid,  overlaid,  blocked, flushed, and  s           t           r           e           w           n   across the territory of pages for readers’ consumption.  The more delicious the content, the better.                  

I love making books, too.  It’s a high form of meditation that centers me completely in the present, in that holy state of “no mind” where thoughts yield to pure creative impulses.  That’s where all the magic happens.  That’s where the art gets made.

Living Journals

Several years ago Spectra Gallery, under the artistic direction of artist/curator Karen Summerville, presented a solo show of my art books and journals: 33Bookz. It's time to expand that show and create some new works.  First, I have to find the right and perfect place with ample space for sitting and reading. That's a lesson learned from the last show--people want to spend time with some of these books. So, I get to find an exhibit space with all the comforts of a cozy reading room.