An open bookspread, showing a silhouette of a vulture and a human in a tree with a poem on the facing page. The shadowed image is overlaid on the graphic.
Library, Museums and Press Staff
February 15, 2023

A View from the Vault: Toni Morrison’s Five Poems, Illustrated by Kara Walker

By Arline Wilson, Special Collections

“A View from the Vault” is a new series that showcases some of the unique, notable or rare items that are a part of the Special Collections and Museums holdings at the University of Delaware. Each month, we will highlight a different work and share interesting facts or intriguing histories about it. If you are interested in seeing any of the materials featured in person or want to learn more about any work showcased in the series, please contact Special Collections and Museums at AskSpec or AskMuseums.

 

A silhouette on a page in a book. The silhouette shows a human and a vulture in a tree.

A silhouette by Kara Walker from Toni Morrison’s Five Poems.

FIVE POEMS

Toni Morrison, illustrated by Kara Walker

Folio PS3563.O8749 A6 2002

This book is a limited edition of the only published poems by author Toni Morrison. The poems are accompanied by letterpress silhouettes from renowned artist Kara Walker. Although published in 2002, the work is not widely known.

Reading Morrison’s verse alongside Walker’s silhouettes offers a poignant commentary on the ongoing psychological wounds caused by the legacies of slavery. The work is signed by Morrison, Walker and printer Peter Rutledge Koch, and is featured in the exhibition The Artist’s Book in Our Times, on view in the Special Collections Gallery in Morris Library through May 13, 2023.