The Getting of Vellum

by Catherine Byron

The `Getting of Vellum' is inspired by Byron's creative collaboration with Dublin-based artist and calligrapher Denis Brown. The cross-fertilization of his inscribed and distressed vellum pieces in his series, The Word, and Byron's poems about the slaughtering of farm animals in her book, The Fat-Hen Field Hospital, has led to the creation of new work on both vellum and glass, as well as on the printed page.

Genres: Poetry

60 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Lanea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Catherine Byron's The Getting of Vellum is a narrow book of verse. I've read it over and over again over the last few months. The poems contained in the book were written largely in the late 1990s, and several of them circle around the poet's collaboration with calligrapher and artist Denis Brown, for which Byron received an Arts Council of England Writer's Award in 1997. Byron becomes hide-obsessed somewhere before the book begins, and returns to the idea throughout. It's unsettling to some readers, I guess, but as a long-time leather-worker, I was fascinated to read another's reaction to learning about skinning and preparing animal hides for use.

I am, of course, frustrated that I missed the exhibitions of the Byron/Brown works. Thankfully, there is some of Byron's mixed media work available online and also here. I'm a bit addicted to projects like these, and have been since Triur Ban and later An Leabhar Mor. It wakes something up in me to see poetry meet visual media and craft in such a way.

Like many contemporary writers, Byron also turns to intimate subjects. I don't feel any shock for shock's sake in her work, though. Her writings on sex and conception depart so clearly from the hashed-over pap I keep finding in university poetry magazines. I hope they find her. I hope they get it.

I hope you read this.

[Aglaia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Getting of Vellum is both intriguing and disturbing. Divided into three parts, the middle section is perhaps the most thought-provoking. Byron offers a poetic rendition of the process of obtaining vellum and the importance of writing on skin. "Paper is flighty, easy to lose, / and it isn't always to hand. / You'll not, after all, mislay / your own skin -- will you?" she poses at the opening of the section. There is something deeply disturbing about writing on what used to be living flesh. The action adds both a dangerous element to writing and a weight to its importance.

The first and last sections have distinctly different feels to them. They seem to explore the physicality of the human experiences of sex, death, and love. Appropriately, since vellum is skin and skin is one of the major sensory organs, Byron's text borders on uncomfortable in its awareness of feeling.

Byron's poetic voice is strong. Her observations in language border on terse yet retain a poetic feel, and her use of almost technical terms reminds the reader of the reality of her subject. At the same time, there is a religious overtone to her writing that further re-enforces the disturbing aspect of her topic. Layered and evocative, The Getting of Vellum provides a rich source of discussion material.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

just loveeeeeeeeeeeeees it.......becoming a long neck now!