Title: Thirty-three beads on a string
Description: "This poem has taken several forms over the past six years, first as a broadside after the first call for printers, then as a traditional book, next a mini-book, and finally, an accordion book. After many readings, I realized the poem had to take the form of a tasbih. This final version contains three 'beads' per page over eleven pages, printed and joined together by one single string. Poetry, part of the bedrock of Iraqi culture, can never be destroyed."

"Day, who was an original participant of the Broadside project, has taken on to work with a Shlah poem, something he wanted to do with the broadside project, but could not at that time. This poem has come to mean more than the project to Day, it is a portrait of Iraq - its people, heritage, history and music"--The Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.
Subjects: Violence, Pictorial works, Booksellers and bookselling, Bombings, Iraq War, 2003-2011, Protest movements, Books and reading in art, Intellectual life, Social conditions, Censorship, Terrorism in art, In art, War and civilization, Vehicle bombs, Visual literature, Specimens, Artists' books, Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Places: Iraq, Baghdad, California, Sunnyvale
People: Mike Day
Time periods: 21st century