St Brigid Press

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The First Day of Summer at St Brigid Press

Come, shamanic bee,

turning light into sweetness:

pollinate this dawn

~

Warm Greetings, Friends,

The above haiku is the opening poem of Summer in a new book by Nancy Maxson, Tasting the Wild Strawberry: Blue Ridge Haiku, forthcoming from St Brigid Press. In this, her second collection of poetry, Maxson explores the seasons of the year and of the heart in fifty-six wonderfully distilled, 3-line gems. Known throughout the region for her fine watercolor paintings, we are thrilled to collaborate with Maxson to produce this limited-edition, letterpress printed, hand-bound collection of her written work.

Below are a handful of photos from some of the stages of creating Tasting the Wild Strawberry. If you are in the Waynesboro, Virginia, area, please drop by Stone Soup Books next Saturday, June 29th, for Maxson's art opening and book launch reception. Books will be available for purchase at Stone Soup and through our website here, as of the 29th.

Very best summer wishes to all,

St Brigid Press

Cutting large sheets of fine paper from their from-the-mill size of 27"x40" down to a size that will eventually become our 6"x6" book.

Forming the bodies of the poems, letter-by-letter and space-by-space...

The letters and spaces are gathered into words, which are gathered into poems, which are gathered into a forme for printing each page.

TWS and CandP

The last stop: the Bindery, where the book's covers and pages will be sewn together with linen thread.