Thirty Clouds - Paperback

by George Szirtes (Author), Clarissa Upchurch (Illustrator)

This book is a collaboration between visual artist Clarissa Upchurch and poet George Szirtes. Upchurch's images came first and the text followed based on free interpretations in the form of cinquains combined with prose poems.

The thirty visual works here are all based on monoprints, a process whereby ink is printed directly from freshly painted metal surface, so each printed image is unique. It offers painterly effects hard to achieve by other printing methods.

The cinquain is a poetic form invented by the American poet Adelaide Crapsey (1878-1914). It consists of five lines that break down into a syllabic pattern of 2-4-6-8-2. The effect can be that of the breath expanding for the first four lines then being let out in the fifth.