A cloud poem with intricate drawings, excisions, and typewritten text collaged on rice paper, created for web publication. The title comes from the HTML source code for a non-breaking space— ;—which preserves a blank space between words and simultaneously prevents a line break.
Bervin writes: “I started writing about clouds as a fire lookout in the late nineties in the Sonoran Desert on Red Mountain, near Patagonia, Arizona. When I moved to New York in 2001, I was surprised to find the clouds just as spectacular. I wanted it to be a free book, one called up on screen by demand—for it to exist as needed. It was made with very delicate, non-archival materials. If I give readings from this text, I bring the paper book for everyone to handle. I like to think that the object will eventually die from touch.”