num_pages: 74
description: Miss Coffin and Mrs. Blood are attendants in a mental institution. In and out of hospitals, a young manic-depressive artist gives us an insider's view of madness. In rough-hewn visual language, Sandy Diamond carves her journey from the abyss - broken back, shattered memory, paper shoes - to the artist thirty years later "walking on air." The way is studded with hunchbacks and painters, lovers and healers. The narrator's passion for and allegiance to art makes Miss Coffin and Mrs. Blood a love story. When the artist rides the subway, impasto and glaze cover her fellow passengers. The names of oil colors ooze with sensuality; kitchen receptacles serve as palettes "until everything tasted of Mars Violet and Viridian." Beneath the literal story of Miss Coffin and Mrs. Blood seethes everyone's story - as we fight what is oppressive to the body and the spirit, as we redeem what was lost, we strive to be the authors of our lives.
language: English
title: Miss Coffin and Mrs. Blood: Poems of Art and Madness
titlecomplete: Miss Coffin and Mrs. Blood: Poems of Art and Madness
ratings_count: 4
publisher: Creative Arts Book Co