by Rick Henry
Experimental
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Rick Henry has lived across the United States but usually returns to the sensibilities, landscapes, and histories of upstate New York. There are slippages. Most recently, they include Bottoms (a play) and The Other Daughters (an audio production of a performance “poem” featuring 120 contributing voices).
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The Eggshell Book
A beginner’s book.
Eggs
Pin
Beeswax
Egg carton
Empty an egg by creating a pinhole in the shell.
Let it drain.
Whisper a sweet nothing into the shell through the pinhole.
Seal the hole quickly with beeswax.
Repeat the process with a different egg and a different sweet nothing.
Use an egg carton as your binding.
Readers will be instructed to lightly roll the eggs against their skin until the sweet nothings are released. Do not apply so much pressure that an eggshell cracks. Cracking or breaking eggshells will ensure that the nothings are at best garbled, if not reduced to static/noise.
Sizes and shapes of the chicken/eggs should be selected according to taste.
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The Zinnwaldite Book
Mica. Specifically zinnwaldite brown from the Ore Mountains in Europe. This mica is oddly
reflective and noted for its cleavage.
Sheets of polycarbonate mirror 0.250. The thicker the better. Cut to two-foot squares. Further
trimming can be done after the sizing is complete. Polycarbonate is the best plastic for creating both male and female molds.
Two faces.
Lay the polycarbonate flat.
Splinter the mica into variously sized shards.
Spread the shards over the polycarbonate. Do not attempt complete coverage. Leave ample spaces between shards. Adjustments to coverage might be made with subsequent copies.
Heat to 300°F. Both the polycarbonate and the mica should reveal some elasticity. The mica will sink into the polycarbonate to create a smooth surface. There will also be some bleed such that the polycarbonate will adopt the tint of the mica. If not, grind additional shards of mica and sprinkle liberally across the sheet. Remove from the heat source.
Allow the sheet to cool.
For each face:
Take a deep breath.
Press one’s face into the back side of the heated polycarbonate sheet. As the sheet assumes maximal contact, be sure that the surface conforms to the male and female topographies. This might take some time.
One might prick holes in the nostrils or between the lips to extend the cooling period necessary for the polycarbonate to set.
Repeat with a second face.
When both sheets have cooled, set them facing each other.
Play with the lighting to highlight the infinite variations of reflections as each face responds to the other. A slow moving light source should stimulate a special intimacy in the reflections.
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The Moonlight Book
A beginner’s book.
A moon garden.
Sample flowers that should be in bloom: evening rain-lilies, candytufts, foamflowers, night phlox, queen of the night, euphorbia, sweet alyssums, tuberose, and red flare water lilies (if one has a pond-like section in the garden) are all lovely choices, depending, of course, on one’s zone. Size, shape, scent, and texture will all be of interest to one planning one’s garden.
Be careful: some flowers, like angel’s trumpet and devil’s trumpet, popular in moon gardens for their rich scents and seductive shapes when pressed, are poisonous. The deer horn cactus might be particularly attractive given that it blooms one night a year. The textures it offers are not for everyone.
Full moon.
Dew.
A large sheet of parchment paper, folded in half.
Lie naked on one’s stomach.
Inhale through the nose.
Roll slowly to one’s back.
Exhale through the nose.
Complete a full roll by continuing to one’s stomach.
Inhale through the nose.
Be alert to the smells released when pressing the body into the flowers and to the varied textures they impress upon the body.
Collect a flower of one’s fancy, one that has been flattened by one’s body. One might select multiple flowers.
Lie on one half of the parchment paper. Match one’s body’s position such that it mimics the flower’s shape. Place the flower(s) close to one’s nose.
Have someone fold the other half over.
A person of similar size and shape should lie on the paper, matching the body position as much as possible. This will allow the greatest contact between the parchment paper and the body. The pressure should be as even as possible.
Wait until the body and the parchment paper have dried. This will take longer than one imagines.
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