On a Benediction of Wind: Poems & Photographs
Winner of the 2022 Montana Book Award!
This collaboration by Charles Finn and Barbara Michelman is is a dance of word and image, where the moment meets the eternal, and beauty that catches the breath gives way to vistas that calm the spirit.
A quiet intimacy and strength run through this collection of free verse and prose poems, each paired with a black-and-white landscape photograph from the Pacific Northwest and the American Southwest. Poet Charles Finn and photographer Barbara Michelman weave a tapestry of words and images from the natural world into a single, timeless strand.
Ten years in the making, in this sparse yet lyrical work, poem and image become reflections of one another. With its emphasis on birds, the innate holiness of nature, and experiences shared by an unnamed couple, On a Benediction of Wind is an invitation to leave the distractions of the modern world behind—and listen once again to "the confessions of snow" and "the breathing of stones".
To the Mountain
He arrived quietly in the night
Met a wild fawn upon the way
Trillium in full bloom
The snow that remained.
The mountaintop was strong. No flowers.
The valley below looked beautiful.
Ravens flew away with his regrets.
He chewed an alder twig for strength.
Placed his heart beyond his hands.
The commotion in his lower life was leaving.
He told the clouds, “It is time.”
This beautiful book is printed in duotone (a tonal black and white printed in full color), in a 6.125 x 8 inch format small enough to carry along on back country wanderings.
ISBN 978-1633981430, paperback. $18
Published August 9th, 2022 by Chatwin Books.
Listen to an interview with Charles Finn and Barbara Michelman on Breakfast in Montana here.
Author Charles Finn is the former editor of the literary and fine arts magazine High Desert Journal, and author of Wild Delicate Seconds: 29 Wildlife Encounters. His essays, poems, and nonfiction have been published in journals, magazines, newspapers, and anthologies across the West. He lives in Havre, Montana with his wife Joyce Mphande-Finn and their cat Lutsa.
Photographer Barbara Michelman started in Hollywood and was one of the first women in film lighting. Her photographic work has been widely exhibited, with work in public and private collections here and abroad. Her recent series on the aftermath of fires in the West, Fire on Every Mountain, was awarded Best of Photography at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival in California. She currently lives in Missoula, Montana.
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