A copy of Take Me to the Water by Irene Vázquez lying on stacks of unbound interior pages. The medium blue cover is printed with a darker blue design of waves, title lettering, and a yellow house from hand-carved linocut blocks.
A copy of Take Me to the Water by Irene Vázquez lying on stacks of unbound interior pages. The medium blue cover is printed with a darker blue design of waves, title lettering, and a yellow house from hand-carved linocut blocks.
The poem “Sonnet with Compost Bin” from Take Me to the Water. It’s printed in black on ivory paper and begins with the lines, “Bathed in soil, my god-parts disassemble, / rot, make room for maggot life.”
The text on the copyright/colophon page from Take Me to the Water. Irene’s bio is under the copyright line, followed by the book and series information. The final line is the edition number and says “1 of 150” with a handwritten numeral one.
The linocut block for the cover design, shown up and at an angle during the carving process. A paintbrush for brushing away carved linoleum and a wooden-handled carving tool sit to the right. The title and author lettering is carved in reverse, surrounded by a pattern of waves.
Author photo of Irene Vázquez. She wears her hair in braids and a sleeveless mustard yellow sweater. Her arms are raised and clasped behind her head. She is smiling. A modern white building is softly blurred in the background.
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TAKE ME TO THE WATER
Irene Vázquez

$10.00

April 25, 2023: Here is the free PDF. You may share this version freely, with credit to the author and Bloof Books.

March 8, 2023: Sold out! A third and final printing of 20 unnumbered copies was created exclusively for Irene’s events at AWP. Thank you, readers, for your incredible support of Bloof’s handmade series. Full series subscriptions are sold out, but you can create your own custom bundle with the books that remain!

SOLD OUT: March 2023
October 2022
5.5 x 8 | 36 pages

Handprinted linocut cover
Caligo Safe-Wash Relief Inks on Neenah 80 lb. Laid Textured Cardstock in Denim OR Mohawk 80 lb. Smooth Cardstock in Blue
Digitally Printed Interior on Mohawk Via Recycled Smooth Natural White 70 lb Text
Hand sewn in natural twine

Note: Individually printed by hand in small batches, no two covers will be exactly alike. Expect some variation in color and placement across the edition.

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SKU: WATER Categories: , Tag:

Description

Praise for Take Me to the Water

Take Me to the Water is an impressive collection of poems that stage a dialogue between the personal and the collective history of African Americans. Like Rita Dove’s  Thomas and Beulah, Take Me to the Water carries the reader across time—into the specific voice and history of a single speaker who understands their life to be both inherited and made. The manuscript argues that we are all products of the Atlantic crossing, even if not everyone can float. Our speaker holds this knowledge in every utterance in some way, even as each poem also holds joy, beauty, desire, refusal, and perseverance. —Claudia Rankine

Excerpt

Read/listen to “When I Die” at Brooklyn Poets

Additional information

Author

Irène Vazquez

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