This three-panel hand fan, printed in cyanotype and letterpress, holds a poem written by my daughter Amelia Ahl in 1998, when she was eight years old. Its form is inspired by the paper fans once given out at funeral homes from the 1930s to the 1950s — advertising vehicles and keepsakes of grief that kept mourners cool. I've collected these fans for years, drawn to the quiet surprise of their hinged side panels, which stay hidden until the fan is opened. That intriguing feature felt exactly right for Amelia’s poem about dreaming and the world unfolding in the night.
The World Curled offers a young poet's innocent and knowing take on the world, extending my work with the poetry of women in my family. With The Chico Poems (2020), I brought my mother's voice into the light with my visual art. Here I do the same with my daughter — continuing a familial collaboration across generations.
The World Curled: A Poem Fan in custom clamshell case covered in Japanese bookcloth, 2025/2026
