Jack's Birthday Book

It's that time of year again when I choose a recent poem of Jack's and work it up into something special for his birthday. This year I selected a beautiful poem, ostensibly a tribute to the late actor Alan Rickman, but really a poem about Jack's late sister Anne:

Rather a shock

i.m. Alan Rickman (1947-2016)

to think it’s been 25 years since

Truly Madly Deeply

1991

my sister died

or rather

killed herself

so hungry ghosts

seemed documentary realism

to me

living by Lake Pupuke

with its gigantic eels

and those students next door

who had to pump up the stereo

to psych themselves

into going out

every evening

1991

an unhappy time

as Rickman said

roles win Oscars

actors don’t

that swing inscribed for

Alice who used to play here

that makes the other parents

hold onto their kids

so tight

as if death were another infection

they might pick up

I created a three layer tunnel book using silhouettes of images cut from old issues of Frankie Magazine. I like the way that the silhouettes speak of loss, absence and memory.

I printed the poem on a lovely piece of acid free linen paper and mounted it behind a coloured matting. It just slots into one of the side folds of the tunnel book to display it.

For the finishing touch, I made a gate-fold slipcase using another silhouette (cut in half) that becomes a single figure when the gates are closed.