Their poetry book, “The Unauthorized Audubon,” is a collection of 22 poems and 22 linocuts of various birds. Linocut is a print making technique using linoleum.
DeLind, now a professor emeritus, created the images. Skeen, a professor in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities , created poems about the birds. The poems were about the names of the birds, where they came from and their stories.
Skeen said she loved working with DeLind because of her creativity.
“Laura is great to work with,” Skeen said. “The person you are working with sees things you wouldn’t see. That’s the great thing about collaboration.”
DeLind said it all started when the two friends taught a class and workshop. After the workshop was over, DeLind and Skeen found a new way to keep in touch.
Their project began when DeLind left Skeen an anonymous linocut of bird feathers on her car window.
“One day I had a really horrible day and I was walking over to my car and saw something under the windshield wiper,” Skeen said. “It was a linocut of two bird feathers and when I got them I felt totally different.”
Instead of a regular thank-you card, Skeen decided to write a poem in response.
This soon turned into the two doing this back and forth. The duo ended up with many unique images and poems.
“We were doing this for fun for about two years,” Skeen said. “We were just playing.”
Skeen said a worker from the MSU Museum saw their work and asked them to be part of an exhibit for a commemoration of Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring.”
At the exhibit, Skeen said an employee from MSU Press, a publishing arm of the university, saw it and asked if they wanted to turn their work into a book.
“About 12 months later, out came the book,” Skeen said.
Since the book has been out in stores, Skeen said word has spread around the country in places like New Mexico, Oklahoma City and Kansas.
She is planning on going to these places for an open reading.
DeLind said creating the book was an overall wonderful experience.
“This was just a very positive experience,” DeLind said. “It’s funny because we weren’t working toward something specific. We were just enjoying the process.”
