"the Shuttlecock!" the Book

Since starting my love affair with making books, people have been very generous in sharing work and ideas with me. One of the poems sent to me for possible book-usage was from a kid I grew up with in Southern Spain. We were the children of civilian employees for the military presence there; I'm so very lucky to be in touch with many of those I grew up with (say what you might about FaceBook, it's been great for me!)

He shared several wonderful poems with me, but the one that just screamed book was "the Shuttlecock!", a memoir of sorts. It captures in words what I've never really been able to express:

the Shuttlecock!
by Chris Wallace

Childhood dreams could never come true.
I’ve already lived in a castle, gilded by runes.
I’ve already sailed the straights that separate
the Moors from the Iberian side of the shore.
I’ve been under the floors where Anne Frank cried.
I’ve stood on Golgotha’s ground where Jesus’ body died.
I’ve touched the iron curtain of hate
dripping with blood from the rusty gate.
I bought a Coke outside a 5000 year old ruin.
I climbed to the top of the world’s largest dune.
I drove through Catalonia to get to Pompeii.
I was lost in Barcelona for two and one half days.
The green fields of Ireland felt so home to me,
almost more than any other place I’ve seen.
And there are too many places left to mention.
So many experiences from Pisa to the London Dungeon;
But they all seem too far away,
the remains of some forgotten day.
I don’t want to forget that time and place
that now only floats in inner space.
Maybe, one day I can take you there
and we can create something new out of thinning air.

I played with several ideas for this book, but I just couldn't get past making it an actual shuttlecock. Finding the image was more difficult than I had anticipated; I ended importing a photo into SCAL and deleting the elements I didn't want cut. The pages are a series of strips; I edged everything with Antique Linen distress ink. My favorite part is how it closes completely flat, yet opens out completely.

Author's note: "The uncapitalized "the" and capitalized "S" is intentional. It's an homage to open source programming variable naming conventions." Love that!