Relatively Speaking
by Chip Dameron and Betsy Joseph
"In pooling their talents to write this book, co-authors and siblings Chip Dameron and Betsy Dameron Joseph dip into an immeasurably creative tradition because family artistic collaborations probably have existed as long as have families themselves. It’s not a stretch to imagine Paleolithic mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, working through the night to paint the walls of some dimly lit cave near Altamira or Lascaux with images designed to ensure a successful hunt, or performing a ritual chant to prepare for the undertaking. Many later examples of such partnerships come to mind, too, including those of William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Robert and Clara Schumann, the Brontës, James Weldon and John Rosamond Johnson, and the Gershwins, not to mention Eddie Foy’s boisterous family or the riotous Smothers Brothers. These of course represent only a miniscule sampling of the innumerable and often nameless family alliances that have helped to shape the trajectories of art, music, literature, and dance through the millennia. What sets Relatively Speaking apart is its seamless incorporation of current concerns and eternal mysteries, the timely and the timeless."
–from the introduction by Carol Coffee Reposa, 2018 Texas Poet Laureate
Order from any bookstore, local or online. This title is also available from of Galveston, Texas.
About the Authors
Chip Dameron is the author of eleven collections of poetry and a travel journal. His poems, as well as his essays on contemporary writers, have appeared in numerous publications in the U.S. and abroad. He is professor emeritus of English at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. A member of the Texas Institute of Letters, he’s also been a Dobie Paisano fellow.
Betsy Joseph lives in Dallas, and her poems have appeared in a number of journals and anthologies. She is the author of two poetry books, including Only So Many Autumns (LULP, 2019). In addition, she and her husband, photographer Bruce Jordan, have produced two books, Benches and Lighthouses, which pair her haiku with his black and white photography.