In the spring of 2004, I wrote the below poem, in Baghdad while waiting for convoy clearance. I remember I was watching the birds fly in and out of barbed wire, on and off base, in and out of threat levels. It seemed as if the birds knew no red zone or green zone. As if the birds knew no barbed wire …
I believe this poem sums up this print.
A Bird Knows No Barbed Wire
Tired
Dust covered
Waiting
Convoy clearance
Three weeks gone
Lost dusk in western Iraq
IED on MSR Tampa
A bird flying in and out of barbed wire
These are two variations from a series of Bird Knows No Barbed Wire prints done in the Letterpress Studio at Penland School of Craft in North Carolina in a workshop called Down and Dirty Letterpress in 2015.
Available in two colors on brown chipboard (above) or one color on white BFK paper (below). The white version measures slightly smaller at 9" x 12"/23 cm x 30.5 cm.
