CLAIR DE LUNE is a special edition from Jason Sholl (hieroglyphica) and Ana María Caballero’s long-form generative FX HASH collection POEMS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN [PITPD]. This project represents a new form of poetic anthology—one that celebrates the role of the reader in shaping the life of a poem.

In this piece, several readers take turns reading and rereading Paul Verlaine’s iconic Clair de Lune, as translated by Gertrude Hall.

Inspired by Roland Barthe's maxim, "those who fail to reread are obliged to read the same story everywhere," each reading gives rise to new and evolving marginalia, suggesting the crucial act of rereading.

The verses vanish, just like our memory of their exact words might fade, but distilled, standout moments of personal connection remain. In time, even these wane, providing a scarcely perceptible backdrop as the poem is discovered & interpreted anew.

PITPD explores authorship. When a poem enters the public domain, it no longer belongs to its author but to its readers. In the intimate moments we read a poem, we link it to our private, pulsating worlds & help ensure others will read it, too. If history’s palms hadn’t held Sappho’s words, our fingers wouldn’t be holding them now.

Readers write poetry’s survival.

Debuted at the Poème Objkt exhibition, L’Avant Galerie Vossen, Paris, October 2022.