Poems by Alan Michael Parker (American, b. 1961)

Gift of Paul Schulz, Class of 1982, in honor of Clark Ross, Frontis W. Johnston Professor of Economics

"Ten Days" was created by Herb Jackson ‘67, Douglas C. Houchens Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts, and Alan Michael Parker, Douglas C. Houchens Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing, during a 15-month span. Both selected 10 random days within that time frame, during which Jackson created a painting and Parker created a poem, working independently without seeing the other’s work. They had only one rule: the pomes were to fit on an 8.5 by 11-inch sheet of paper and the drawings on a 7 by 10-inch sheet. When they revealed their works to each other, they realized that the pieces were connected in almost mysterious ways. For example, the work that Jackson created on day 10 uses horizontal lines while Parker’s poem from that same day references climbing a childhood tree house.

Left to Right: 7-21-09; 8-5-09; 8-31-09; 10-26-09; 12-4-09; 1-7-10; 3-26-10; 7-27-10; 8-10-10; 10-18-10