The Art of a Cover

It’s traditional for the portrait of authors to be put on covers of compilation volumes of their work. Brendan Kennelly, despite his “notes of disgust, fierce satire, sardonic bitterness” looks fairly happy on the cover of his new selected as a man who has grown into his career as a poet and grown into his own lyricism.

The photograph was taken at a reading at Cuisle Poetry Festival in Limerick, a venue that allows poets to interact, explain their works and emphasize what their poetry means to them while also receiving a reciprocal energy from the audience. In other words, perfect for poetry. No wonder he looks so happy!

In order to jazz up the tradition and add a little spice to the Wake Forest cover of The Essential Brendan Kennelly: Selected Poems, designer Jeff Clark of Quemadura superimposed the photograph with colors of maroon, sea foam green, and scarlet to give a sort of new wave, Andy Warhol-esque flavor to the image. The different colors mirror the different emotions Kennelly displays in his poems.