This poem is written by our printer, Bill Denham, and illustrated by our designer, Kim Vanderheiden. Denham recalls, “the poem grew out of a visit, in the summer of 2003, with my brother, Bob, and his wife, Rachel, who live in the Southwest corner of Virginia. During the course of our visit the subject of ‘the lovers’ trees’ came up and I said, ‘What are the lovers’ trees?’ Bob said, ‘Come on, I’ll show you.’ The image of those two trees stuck in my mind and, in the end, offered me a way of exploring my relationship to the place and culture of my childhood.” 

In the early ‘60s, Denham became especially fond of the poems of William Blake, and in particular, his keen ability to unite language with the visual arts. Vanderheiden and Denham had been talking about doing a series of ten illustrated broadsides, and since The Lovers’ Trees already had a very visual element to it, this seemed to be natural for their first project.

The image was originally drawn in pencil and then converted into photopolymer plates and printed on the letterpress. Its dimensions are 5.75x11”An unframed copy is available for $35.