Common Time

“Gerry's collaborations with Andy Anders resulted in twin chapbooks 22 years apart: Common Time (1999) and Fractals (2021), both edited, printed, and published by River Oaks Press in Russellville, Arkansas. The woodcut logo (trombone and tuba), designed by Andy, reflects their respective instruments and years of collaboration as musicians and colleagues. Handset on an antique printing press, both books were collated and handstitched with loving care by Andy, who joked that he only had ca. 180 characters, thus the necessity for short form poems. One poem, he said, used up all the "o's"; one more o-word would have rendered it unprintable. Gerry always admired handmade books by William Blake and Kenneth Patchen, so there's a certain charm in avoiding a manufactured look. Both books were in limited editions of 100 copies.”

— Gerry Sloan