Red Hydra Press

Dreams

Linocuts by Ramón Vargas

Poems by David Sorrell

Tuscaloosa, Alabama: Red Hydra Press, 2021.

Edition of 45.5 x 6.5”; 24 pages. Letterpress printed in Centaur types on Zerkall Book paper. Bound in cloth boards with linocut on cover. Printed and bound by Steve Miller. Signed by poet and artist. Numbered. $175

 

Red Hydra Press: "Eight mysterious, figurative, magenta-colored linocuts by Cuban artist Ramón Vargas, with accompanying poems by David Sorrell. The pandemic flows beautifully and quietly through these words. A 5" x 6.5" letterpress-printed, vital book in three sections, bound by Miller in passionate, magenta-colored cloth over boards, with a linocut printed on the front cover. The printer describes ‘Dreams’ as a ‘mystery book that rests easily in the hand’.”

 

Colophon: “Cuban artist Ramon Vargas cut these linocuts for the printer, given no direction about a theme. Poet David Sorrell then responded to these striking images.”

 

In the beginning, as we huddled in our houses,

clouds of sickness swirling outside the door,

it was mostly nightmares. My teeth dropping

from my mouth like broken headstrones,

toenails and hair slipping from their sockets,

or simply choking, gaspin awake with sheets wrapped, the tentacles pulling me deep, slowly release.