With one exception, I made black and white collages out of photocopied materials in response to poems that Larry had written over the years.  In the case of the title poem, the process was reversed.  As I worked on the collection, I worried that my interpretations of his highly personal poems might seem more an intrusion than a collaboration.  Larry carefully examined my work to be sure it felt appropriate to him, and to my relief, in most cases he felt it to be complementary.

 I provided the layout for the pages of the book whose text Larry made camera-ready.  I hired the talented graphic designer Beth Hay to design the cover with my collaboration, using an image from my collage collection.

Larry gave a reading at Ann Arbor's Shaman Drum bookstore.  A review appeared in The Michigan Daily.


HERE IS THE POET ON THE FACE IN THE MIRROR:
Poems are pictures that radiate beyond their frames as are pictures whose symbolism only begins with the artist's renditions.  Literature and art come together in The Face in the Mirror augmenting what artist Judith Jacobs and poet Laurence W. Thomas see in the world around them.  Some of the collaborations involve a third hand – as in the original inspiration of artists such as Ben Shahn, El Greco, Francis Bacon, Christo, Enoch Wood Perry, Russell Redmond, Edward Munch, and the Russian filmmaker Eisenstein.  Other works in the book stem from reactions to experiences such as war, religion, and water-related activities.


Copies of The Face in the Mirror are available for $20 which includes postage and handling.