Some Facts About the Moon
Wendy Vardaman
Artists book
Not For Sale
Artist Statement
This is a mockup for an artists book. Or maybe it is an artists book, edition of 1. HRC is hard to fit into a box, and there’s an abundance of words, audio, photos, social media, websites, and video, by and about her, some of it factual, some of it fictional, and often the stuff of myth, folktale, surmise, armchair analysis, lies, and legend. She’s been a private public figure for over 50 years, beginning with her graduation speech at Wellesley College in 1969. There are gaps. If there’s a story here, it’s our own. If there’s a question to ask on the other side of girlhood, worklife, motherhood & all the expectations, it’s who are we apart from our roles & the approval of others? Who do we want to be?
Excerpt:
There was a girl who emerged from an
unchipped, white China cup. One of a
set of 12. She waited for the other 11
goddesses to join her.
When they did not, she stepped out
of the cold cup of weak tea with its
perfect round saucer, removed a full
sash of Girl Scout badges, slung the
arrows she’d collected so far onto her
back, and went into the world wearing
thick, rose-colored glasses.
She carried her makeshift porcelain
quiver of arrows everywhere. She kept
her eye out for a bow. She kept her eye
on the moon.
One fine, yellow morning, she
discovered a perfect moon-faced baby
in a little teacup & raised her. She
strapped on this cup, too, and carried it
a long, long way. One more, it seemed,
was exactly enough.
She adjusted her hair. She changed
costumes. She tried on different
accents wandering place to place.
Everything that she wanted to do took
SOOOOOOO much time & she was
running out of time to save the world.
Sometimes she made friends and
sometimes enemies.
Eventually, she said loudly to herself
what she had only just learned: that
humans are fickle & unpredictable,
even though the world is round &
has a countable number of people &
countries in it with more or less the
same set of complex problems to
solve—
In a different world, she might
have shot the moon—
in a different world she might
have never aimed an arrow—
was it not enough
to be the fletcher,
to gather the feathers,
to craft their shaft
to define its spine?
About the Artist
Wendy Vardaman, PhD, has day jobs managing websites and degrees in structural engineering, English, and graphic design. In addition to being a poet and the author of three poetry collections, her creative practice has focused on editing, prose writing, illustration, printmaking, letterpress, and design. She enjoys learning new skills; exploring materials, media, and tools; doing research; making, mixing, coloring, and collaborating. Artists books create spaces for words to perform and become an event. wendyvardaman.com