THE New Book!

We are nearing the end stages of this "great work." CONVERSATIONS   Images and Poetry will be printed and available near the end of September.

And work it has been. We have woven together my photos and Clem's poetry - a far more complicated task than either of us imagined when we began to put this manuscript together last February.

A little over five years ago, we first conceptualized putting these two art forms together. We installed several exhibits and then repeated exposure of different pieces to the public over this period of time. And we listened to people's responses.

This book has been a postponed project - a project waiting for the right time to be born. Our other books kept nudging it down our list of possible publications. When each of our books was printed, often the first question was whether our newest book had photos. The answer always was that it did not. For starters, printing photographs is a far more expensive venture requiring a photographic grade of paper.

However, it was not just the cost of such a book. There was some unconscious awareness within both of us that we were not yet ready. And actually it has been a very good thing that we waited. We both grew as artists as we experimented with this conversation. And we traveled more places and accumulated more photos and poetry from the respective pools from which we made our selections.

At this point for each of us, it feels like a masterpiece or great work. The difference between a symphony and a sonata. Whether we will ever write a second symphony is not something we can answer at this time. It is like childbirth - never ask a woman in the midst of the late stages of delivery whether she will have another child!

The publishing business is a moving target these days. Digitalization, e-books, print-on-demand, self-publishing, and difficulties established publishers are having are only the tip of an iceberg of gargantuan proportions. Predictions of the end of printed books have been replaced with research saying e-book owners are reading more - both electronic and printed. books And they are reading more than people, who do not own Kindles, Nooks, and iPads. Books definitely aren't going away! Our options and opportunities are increasing.

What would our book look like on an iPad or an e-book? We simply can't even venture a guess. What we do think is that this is a book to be savored, to come back to over and over again. It will not be a book that a person likely will read from beginning to end, like a novel or non-fiction work. Rather it will be more like visiting an art gallery and sitting before some pieces of art or coming back to them. And passing by some pieces as nice, but not what holds your attention.

We will keep you posted and let you know when Conversations   Images and Poetry will be available.