Birds

by William Benton

This book was first published in 1972 by the Graphic Arts Workshop of the Portland Museum of Art School in Oregon, as a limited edition of 200 copies. On the right-hand side pages Benton ingeniously portrays the essence of one type of bird, simply by arranging the letters of the bird's name. Its simplicity is breathtaking--and flocks of fun! William Benton received his early training in music and worked as a jazz musician before becoming a writer. His seven books of poetry include Marmalade, Normal Meanings, and The Bell Poems. His poetry has also been published in The New Yorker and The Paris Review.

72 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Jason Ly · Rating 5 out of 5]

birds is a neat little collection of concrete/visual poetry that centers around birds. Each page features a bird through a clever/creative way visually using just the text. The design of each page is just lovely and pretty minimalist and communicates each bird nicely while also being quite varied in approach. Some of my favorites include the vulture, sparrow, and woodpecker pages.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a delightful little book, cleverly written (hardly any text), cleverly typed is better said, and a joy to look at, particularly if one has a fondness for our feathered friends.