La carrera / The Race
La carrera / The Race
A Glimpse
A Glimpse
Red Ozier Press 1976-1988
Hurricane Lake
Lion Froth Crown
Lion Froth Crown
There Are Things Too Marvelous To Be Spoken Of
by Steve Miller with illustrations by Marta Anderson and Miller's handmade paper wrappers. 1979
Why Does My Heart
Poems by Steve K. Miller with drawings by Cuban artist Aliosky Garcia Sosa. Fifty pages, 5" x 8" in an edition of 44 letterpress printed copies, hand bound in golden cloth over boards, signed and numbered by the author. It is available from Vamp & Tramp, Booksellers. Published in 2024. $225.00
This book explores some life moments of the writer, including moving from New York City to Alabama. The text is seen through the eyes of a book artist, exploring life as a teacher, among friends, beloved animals, one’s life partner, Havana, through close observation and making. It reflects on life and life passing. Miller makes books by hand and has done so since 1976, and the slow process is the lens through which he sees the world.
It speaks to deep relationships, attention to details, the power of dogs, Havana, Cuba and more. In 1974 the University of Wisconsin Memorial Union reading room, with its dark-wood paneling, low lighting, worn leather chairs and books everywhere, was the author's go-to place for quiet study. There he found a damaged 1947 book, Prose Poems from The Illuminations by Arthur Rimbaud, translated by Louise Varèse.An unloved orphan, the book sat on a small table next to his chair. Over the course of two weeks this rough and worn book sat there. No one picked it up. It was not only the French poet’s powerful words calling to him through the decades, but astonishing pen and ink scribbles on many of its pages. Someone had spent time drawing in this book.Black ink splotches spilled from the front cover, across the spine, and onto the back. Maybe that’s why no one had picked it up.
To him its random markings were powerfully attractive. Night after night he marveled at the poems, the printing, the hand-held size of it, the crazed markings. It was a perfectly alive book.No one seemed to care, so after two weeks it came home with him. It is one of his most treasured books, housed in a simple black clamshell box for safekeeping.When Miller began assembling words for this book he was thinking about how much he loved the Rimbaud, and wanted to return to the feeling he had holding that book. He began designing; choosing a page size based on the text and typeface, placing text, moving things around. He decided to measure the Rimbaud, and discovered that his book was exactly the same size!Miller reached out to a Cuban artist he greatly admire, Aliosky Garcia Sosa, and they bound their energies together.
And from Amazon.com the book is available as a:
Paperback
or
eBook
