In 2016, I published a book of concrete poems called Wet Cement. Also known as shape poems, concrete poems are written in the shape of the thing that each poem is about. For exampl, a poem about a clothes hanger shaped like a clothes hanger.

While working on that book, I discovered that I could turn a single word into a concrete poem. For example, I could write the word exclamation as exclamat!on, turning the letter i upside down to become an exclamation point.

As I played with these single-word concrete poems, I realized that I could animate the process of creating them. I call this process “wordsmithing.”

It all becomes clear when you click on the videos.