Poemas

Poems by Ida Gramcko, 1947–1952

With five different kinds of paper, column widths, and formats, the first volume of this book makes a compilation of Gramcko’s poetry over the span of five years, informing the shape of the book. The second volume is a miniature in three Pantone inks, based on the work of Tulio Febres Cordero (1860–1938) in Mérida, Venezuela.

Accolades: Finalist at Latin American Design Awards 2017 (Peru); part of the Venezuelan selection for exhibit at Leipzig’s Stiftung Buchkunst 2017 (Germany). An exhibit compiling the materials that comprised the book and its design was displayed at Abra Caracas Gallery (Venezuela), and a series of public programs was developed around it.

The covers are photos of Carlos Puche (1923–1999), inverted and printed in Pantone colors. This is an experimental book of poems, manuscripts, and archival photographs. Square spine, clothbound, with both simple and French folding. Each section features digitally typeset concrete poems as pauses within the text, creating an intergenerational dialogue with the author. The font used was a slab serif, Carol Twombly’s Chaparral Pro.

In the history of Venezuelan poetry, Ida Gramcko (1924–1994) is said to belong to the generation of 1942, characterized by the revival of rhymed stanzas and the Spanish meters. Yet Gramcko’s poetry surpasses any formal elements associated with the work of her contemporaries. Within the fabric of her well-measured lines, the precocious Ida Gramcko undertook an inquiry into the mystery of beings, objects, language, and life.