Bici Hendricks | Punctuation Poems

Bici Hendricks

Punctuation Poems

New York City, USA: Black Thumb Press, 1966

14 x 8.5 cm.

Edition size unknown

Nye Ffarrabas (formerly Bici Forbes and Bici Forbes Hendricks) founded The Black Thumb Press in June of 1965, "to publish experimental work of high merit which, for various reasons - unconventional form, small size, or unpretentious nature - would necessarily be bypassed by the established publishers.”

This Kraft envelope with a white label contains twenty printed cards featuring typographic compositions each consisting of a single typewriter character.

"Many of her poems are also lozenges. You will find they feel good on your tongue, and can soothe an inflammation. In “Punctuation Poems” her words simply deliquesce, and melt away like ice (or identity), until all we are left with are the pauses, the stops and starts, joining and breaking the silence of the page.  Nye’s “Black Thumb Press” was not an artwork or a poem at all, but rather a laboratory for tinkering and experimentation with the elements of style and meaning, beauty and communication. Exalting the greasy thumbprint of the mechanic who repairs the press, and the technician who inks the plate, equally alongside the author who crafted the verse. The literal press that birthed the poem, remembered on the page, fingerprints pressed indelibly into the volume. Creator, fabricator, distributor, and reader all joined in conversation.”

- Bracken Hendricks

"Nye is a wordsmith, an alchemist with words. For a decade we traveled through life together. Two children. Three grandchildren. Shared memories. A lot bonds us. In 1964 we started the Black Thumb Press and sent out small mailings. Nye planned meals of single colors, turning meals into art. By the mid 60’s we were part of Fluxus, and also active participants in Charlotte Moorman’s Avant Garde Festivals. In 1967 at the New York Mycological Society Banquet1 Nye sat next to Marcel Duchamp. In 1970 we went to Cologne together for the “Happening and Fluxus” exhibition at the Kunstverein, where she had Dinner Service with hubcap plates on an American flag, and her powerful piece Neo/N [Über alleS] flashing on the wall behind. By the late ‘60’s, our passion for social engagement had us taking our children on our shoulders to Gay Rights marches and Anti-War demonstrations. In 1971 to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary we had a Flux Divorce. George Maciunas helped with ideas and John Lennon and Yoko Ono were guests, a special celebratory event."

- Geoff Hendricks