Puppet night at the bar
Old Tom Banjo’s on fire,
yodeling his crankies.
The sad mime finally speaks.
Cloth blob wags his tongue.
Chief Lee cocoons himself
in a roll of paper.
Last night’s event at the lamp shop, the PCP (Puppets, Crankies, and Pantomime) made me nostalgic for the massive puppetry endeavor that my sister, Nick, Stef, Ben, and I put together many years ago. Here’s a photo from that very involved spectacle:
Now that I have finally turned in my final grades for the three creative writing courses that I teach here in Vermont, I’m finally reaching my head above the chaos for a breath of fresh air, and I went back to re-read the marketing and publicity paperwork for MIT Press regarding my upcoming book. There, I found a very kind and thrilling description of my book among the Editor’s Picks for 2019 collection, written by the acquisitions editor who helped coach me through this process. Here is her write-up,
“Most of us are familiar with Walter Benjamin, but in revisiting him closely while doing research for this book, I was astonished to realize how persistent his influence is—and, in fact, growing.
Frances Cannon’s passion for Benjamin is infectious. Her graphic translations charm and captivate. In the same way that Benjamin’s writing is likened to a meandering stroll, Cannon’s pen wanders, strays, digresses. She illuminates Benjamin the flâneur—allowing us, along with her, to become flâneurs ourselves, traveling through his mind.
This is a fun read, and unpredictable in the best sense of the word. As one of the endorsers notes: “we need to come up with new names for something this wonderful and brand new in the world.”
I have some BIG ART and LIFE NEWS! I turned my manuscript in today for a new book with MIT Press! It won’t be released until next year, but the deadline was last night, and though I feel like a paper doll or zombie from lack of sleep and overworking my drawing fingers, I’m ecstatic and relieved to have completed this stage of the process. BUT, I am thrilled to be working on this book, which in short, is a graphic nonfiction “translation” of Walter Benjamin’s dreams, philosophies, and aphorisms. It’s been a long process and much more work lies ahead. Here are some teasers and some evidence of the towers of research texts that I accumulated during my process. You’ll also notice a stack of *some* of my notebooks filled with drawings. I can’t share any full illustrations, because art is not free and I want the book to stand alone as a physical art object in collaboration with MIT. For a better idea of what I’m working on, check out the fall 2017 issue of The Iowa Review, they published a visual essay of mine about Walter Benjamin, which was the precursor to this upcoming book, here’s the link.
I have been involved with so many art and writing projects (and publications) over the past few months that it slipped my mind to share the news that several pieces of mine were published in The Daily Palette, through Iowa Writes.
Here is a link to one of the poetry comics
And here is a link to all of the pieces of my work that they have published
I’ve been published! Read the new issue of MIRACLE MONOCLE: a Poetry, Prose, and Hybrid journal, out of Louisville. I am going to borrow some of the words of Sarah Anne Strickley, the Faculty Editor of the journal, to announce the release:
I worked as the graphics guest editor for the vivid, meticulous, unusual, lovely literary and arts journal The ILANOT REVIEW. This issue is special to my interests, as it is a “graphics” oriented theme—poetry comics, graphic essays, illustrated fiction, comic narratives, and hybrid works of unnamed genres. There are some true treasures here, including an interview with poet and comic artist Bianca Stone, along with dozens of talented poets, painters, and other artist-writers from around the world. I had the privilege of contributing to the editing and selection of these works. Take a look! Click the link for the full journal.
Image credit Regina Jean, one of the contributors to this issue
Dear art fans, poetry gobblers, radio listeners,
Rick Agran hosts a show called Bon Mot (the good word) on a Vermont radio show through the Goddard campus radio, and little while back he interviewed me about my poetry career, my prose, Sylvia Plath, life adventures, and my artistic process.
Now you can listen to the recording!
Radio Interview on the art and poetry of Franky Frances Cannon:
There has been a new edition published of the online literary and art journal, Gold Wake Live, by Gold Wake Press. They have selected one of my illustrated poems. Check it out! Thanks to Prompt Press as well for the original publication of this poem,
and
I’m launching my new website and project: art and writing mentorship, where you can find more descriptions of the courses I will be teaching at the Shelburne Craft School, and other opportunities for individual mentorship. This is a soft launch, I’ll admit that the “school” is currently more conceptual than actualized, but I’m living more in my imagination than in the corporeal realm these days, so this fits,
I’m thrilled to be published in the new Prompt Press book, Prompt 6, which is a collaborative collection of visual art responses to the prose poems of Francesca Abbate, designed by printmaker and bookmaker Rachel Kauff. I’m one of the six artists to respond to her work. You can view the responses here, but I recommend buying the book if you want to hold a beautiful handmade object d’art in your hands.
ALSO, I’m very pleased that Jennifer Colville, the editor extraordinaire, has published my graphic poem on their website. Check it out:
