As the words turn to wounds, so the wounds turn to words,

each of them murmuring on the water. 

    On the pond in front of the University of North Florida’s Thomas G. Carpenter Library, Clark Lunberry of UNF’s English Department and several of his students (Kelley Predieri, Lauren Seckinger, Orin Heidelberg and Teresa Rorstrom) installed a large-scale poem directly onto the surface of the water.  During the first week, the poem—made of letters (7 ft. by 7 ft.) cut from thick plastic and installed with a kayak—read:  “MURMUR OF WORDS.”  Then, for the second week, the piece was adjusted (discreetly, and while no one was looking) to read:  “MURMUR OF WOUNDS.” 

    Simultaneously, installed (with the invaluable assistance of Erik DeLuca) in the four-story stairwell of the adjacent library—its tall windows facing directly onto the pond—there was an accompanying sound collage composed of the recorded voices of 25 randomly chosen library readers.  Heard throughout the stairwell (as well as now, on this homepage), the various voices mingled into a murmur, while the poem on the pond was seen directly below, its words floating upon the water.

    The pond poem and stairwell sound installation remained in place from February 16 to March 1, 2008.  This project was a follow-up to the April 2007 “WATER ON WATER” installation, also on the library’s pond.  See under “Installations” (above) for more images from this earlier project.

    For a short slideshow (with sound) of the “MURMUR OF WORDS” project, click on this web address:  http://www.unf.edu/~clunberr/murmur_slideshow.pps