Voices and Vessels:
A Confluence of Ideas and Passion
in Fine Press Books and Broadsides
EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT DIRT
IS BENEFICIAL TO YOUR HEALTH
by W. Patrick Tilcock.
Printed on Kitakata, a handmade paper from Japan, in an edition of 97 numbered and signed copies. The background image was derived from a digiatal image by Tilcock and printed with an Epson 4880 injet printer. 16 x 7.5 inches. Price: $50
To inquire about purchasing this work,
please contact Laura at 23 Sandy.
EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT DIRT IS BENEFICIAL TO YOUR HEALTH
For Sandy
W. Patrick Tilcock
You already knew that. Reaching down,
Scooping and shaping with bare hands,
Absorbed and entranced with the dark,
Grainy soil that clings to your skin, you know
In your bones the boundless mystery
Reaching back thousands of years
In this patch of prairie where we have camped
For the past thirty-four. You know
There is a connection I miss
With my practical gloves
And long-handled tools, an ancient
Wisdom that seeps into your blood,
Carrying countless generations
Of grass-songs and oak-stories.
You touch an ancient prairie-fire
Of gratitude, a rough blessing
You carry in your blood as you work
On hands and knees,
Teasing out the roots of weeds,
Tending the delicate future.