Speaking Fire at Stones

by William Carpenter, Robert Shetterly (Illustrator)

When Robert Shetterly gave a collection of his drawings and etchings to William Carpenter, he asked him to write an essay about them for a proposed book. Instead, Carpenter wrote one poem per picture, delving deep into Shetterly's themes of searching for the truth, the personal, and the hero inside of us. The resulting book, Speaking Fire at Stones, is an unusual collaboration. Normally, artists are asked to illustrate poems; here the tables are turned and the result is elegant, speaking in one new voice. Shetterly's drawings link the ether of emotion, inspiration, and impulse with the visible world. His images are cauldrons of voyagers, half-human/half-animal creatures, hermits, and fantastic landscapes where earth and spirit mix, forming new myths. Carpenter ties these images together with the twine of revelation. Everyone seeks something in these pairings; some succeed and some fail in the quest, yet all discover something or someone. Echoes of the Odyssey abound.

Genres: Poetry

122 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

William Carpenter is the author of three books of poetry, and two novels.

Born and raised in New England, he earned his B.A. from Dartmouth and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. He began publishing poetry in 1976, and won the Associated Writing Program’s Contemporary Poetry Award in 1980. In 1985 he received the Samuel French Morse Prize and a National Endowment for the Arts grant.