ArchivesSpace at the University of Iowa

The image on the page consists of colorful humanoid drawings on the middle of the page and black and white forms on the top and bottom. There are two gray spheres also on the bottom portion. The text contains sever fragmented words. It reads, "after the Unauthor - end ship into endship. The virtual language in charactersof time - fusal peraments of the character ossib dang - anquil tomary - anquil bling" -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

This image is divided into thirds on the page. The top is a green sky, the middle contains many shadowy figures and the bottom portion consists of gray squigley lines.The text reads, "opera am adoration - prayer am music - I got religion, a-longing for my only art - art am religion" -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

The top of this image is a bright, firery sky below which there is a green garde and a small blue sea. There is also a human-like head with radiating white hand like extensions . The poem reads, "toge turn again - repeat the name they called you a poem ago - inspired by the gentle hand be child again," -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

This image has a red roadster car on the top ot the page over a watery background.The center section contains a flower garden and the bottom a country road. The poem reads, ""let us drive!" - they drove off to the lake, and the leafage and the white wonder. - Oh, sunlit car following the road The wheels playing magical music. passing amongst pines, - drive on toge" -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

The image is of a blue speckled sky with a moon and star like objects and a large pink heart at the bottom left of the page. The text is, "Over their heads the immemorial moon and above the horns of his heart subse-quiescence. -- For the first time toge - husband love - love wife -- now for the first time." -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

On the right side of the collage, a running abstracted figure made from old papers with black and white engravingsis depicted. The same figure made from fragmented text appears on the left side of the collage. The poem reads: "At last a letter, - and a prospect; - a prospect of pleasure - to merge with pleasure after pleasure - night acceptance. Night saw her hasten towards a man---a corpulent man," This poem probably signifies Phillips meeting his wife Fiona in the night after work at their house in Oxford. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

This page is divided into four horizontal panels. The top on is brown with white road like paintings that lead into the second panel of green lake-like drawings. In the third panel the white lines change into stars on a blue sky and the botton panel is violet with straight street lines. The text reads, "going, at the time arranged, he drove off to the dim regions of Bloom - he asked the lake, the starlight he asked he asked the street,"why do I hesitate? for go myself. write I shall never because of the diffiiculty of paper." Perhaps this is a reference to the writer James Joyce. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

This page is divided into two horizontal parts. The upper one is composed of small curving ink dot drawings with several streamers of bright colors over laying. The bottom portion resembles a pop art cloud with pink and brown spatterings.The text reads, "The stranger knew all of the large personages, the ultra-fashionable stars of society. - the name on my own label asking me if I were myself - all my luggage, a small bag containing my moment - adding the clouds , posting art on my pilgrimage." -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

The top image is an abstsract orgainc form with calligraphic markings on a glowing orange background. Below is a green garden composed of leaf forms.The text reads, "hid in the child a king of light - time however increased by a pain a day as toge lurked amongst leafage. - in the gardens passion remembered - and some gardens had tears in them." -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

The drawing depicts a quilt made from calling cards of prostitutes who leave their cards in telephone booths of the Soho section of London. Phillips made several large collages using this material at the time the drawing was made. The poem reads "in Styria hard and dirty - the Princess under three legs - came and came - come Princess - come to our room to be beaten again - she came - long and wild - and came hard." -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

This page is divided into half. The top image is a profile of a man's head and shoulders. The bottom half is an abstract painting in orange, green black and white. The poem reads, "on their walls smiled natural art - nothing odd about that; insisted toge - girl's talk, - The smoking man I believe, collected ambiguous art - every one told me to suspect TP - As for EK ask the King and the 'Lady" The letters TP stand for Tom Phillips as does the Capitol T at the bottom right. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

In this image the page is divided into four pages with small colored abstract markings.The text reads, "suddenly peace with the past - the return of the sad smile at intervals - odd times and always, my times and your times ink the paper - read my voice" -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

The image is divided into two section on the page of Chapter XXX. The smaller upper image contains drawings of orange leaves.The lower section is reminiscent of Phillips' copper word sculptures. The poem reads, "ted collected lips - too - ted smile - meanwhile a woman somehow writing newspaper columns and a frown furrowed diary. - a pen: and the dictive ink supplied by toge" -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

This page contains a lush and complicated image. It may relate to a scene in an opera as suggested in the text. The top part contains a jungle setting with suggestions of snakes, a monkey and birds. The botton section has a figure of a person in a black robe and hat, a man in profile, a blond woman with glasses and a hobo.The text reads, " you had better explain the turning truth. - explain the opera - for He had suffered an opera all about chance - never again another painful wonder." -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

This page consists of flame-like forms on the upper page and a green blooming flower on the lower right. The poem reads, "connect with your husband treat your husband with a nerve and a care - solely your husband his hand knowing you; right down to your shrill "stop--" -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

This page consists of a center masculine figure on a starry background with two smaller flesh tone figures below. The poem reads, "gentle shining children stand beside you toge - One child bone; the other gravy; - watch them from the fairy balcony two small forms flitting about below" -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

The drawing depicts a varied colored stone mosaic which in light of the poem on this page might be an abstraction of the facade of Morro Castle that opens James Joyce's "Ulysses." The poem clearly is an adaptation of Molly Bloom's closing soliloquy that ends the book: "Oh , Ah, And I said -- yes yes - I will yes - end." Published in A Humument 4th revision as page 366. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

On this image a blue square, green circle and figure like shadows are inside it. It reads: a strange day ago: - to kill the confronted morning moving slowly- he he - down water winding like a wandering flower the whole world among he was there walking slowly. - fifty people near her judge the grass; he overtook his old fantastic hours - haha -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

This is a mainly an ink hatched drawing that was intended for Ciaran Carson's book of poems, Opera et Cetera, Wake Forest Press, 1996, but not utilized in the printed edition. The text is from A Human Document by Mallock. Carson's book is also held by the Sackner Archive. This small fragament contains the following poem: "monsieur art sage monsieur h - dix-huit luding I heard him claim our name - ch - hc - reve omph enderi St ! - tribute to h - ink beau-payin you with his tongue wit." The protagonist in this poem, H C, is Henri Chopin. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

This unpublished page consists of fragmented pages from A Humument. There is no poetic text selected by Phillips. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.