Household Objects:
A Mix 'n' Match Project for both sides of the brain
By Wendy Fernstrum
Minneapolis, Minnesota: fernwerks press, 2002. Edition of 500.

Fourteen individual "flash cards" printed on both sides. Text composed in Courier. Drawings and poems by Fernstrum.

Standard edition packaged in 8.25 x 6.25" Ziploc baggie. Deluxe edition housed in 7" square Tupperware container with orange household rubber gloves.

Wendy Fernstrum: "Fourteen cards for the left brain: Prose poems that describe the character of the household objects I’ve drawn. I set neither the objects nor the drawings in front of me while I wrote. Instead, I thought about my relationship with the object and considered what the object represents in the household, beyond its utilitarian purpose. Each blind contour drawing (numbered 1 through 14) corresponds with a prose poem (labeled A through N). Use both sides of your brain to match them and identify common household objects."

[K]
You don’t fool me. I see the way you eye wrinkles on my skin,
making plans even as you huff
and puff your dragon’s breath
on splayed out creases
and folds. Hotheaded, jealous,
you redirect your unrelenting venting when my attention wanders, searing allegiance into me with an angry version of ahickey. Have I never come back for more? Drawn by your heat, I marvel at your sensitivity to different materials: bossy with cotton, sly with silk. You always get your way.

Standard edition $25
Deluxe edition $40