First Words (Green Integer) - Softcover

Begun as an exercise in which Messerli embedded the first word or two from lines of poetry by other poets, First Words gradually transformed into a personal document of despair and hope in the years 1995–1997. Messerli’s work has long been centered on wit and wordplay, but here a new romanticism enters his writing as he struggles to make meaning of fire, flood, riot, earthquake, personal events, and age.