Brilliant colors mark the collages developed by the award-winning artist who translated this poem by a distinguished French poet and writer of fiction who had a special interest in other cultures. Marcia Brown writes "Out of the fire that called forth the many images of Shadow, came the ash that was a sacred bond to the life that had gone before. The beliefs and ghosts of the past haunt the present as it stretches into the future. The eerie, shifting image of Shadow appears where there is light and fire and a storyteller to bring it to life." Brown's collage images were inspired by her travels in the continent of Africa. (All ages)

Shadow lives in the forest...

It goes forth at night

to prowl around the fires.

It even likes to mingle

with the dancers...

Shadow...

It waves with the grasses,

curls up at the foot of trees...

But in the African experience Shadow is much more. The village storytellers and shamans of an Africa that is passing into memory called forth for the poet Blaise Cendrars an eerie image, shifting between the beliefs of the present and the spirits of the past.

Shadow...

It does not cry out,

it has no voice...

It can cast a spell over you...

It follows man everywhere,

even to war...

Marcia Brown's stunning illustrations in collage, inspired by her travels in Africa, evoke the atmosphere and drama of a life now haunted, now enchanted by Shadow.