This ten-minute video introduces “Shadowed: Unheard Voices,” a manuscript of prose poems and photographs edited by Meg Withers and Joell Hallowell.

Whether found between the crumbling pages of a forgotten family bible or shoved into a cardboard box at a garage sale, we’ve all come under the influence of the magnetic force of anonymous photographs—fossil-like representations of unnamed ancestors. It is this phenomenon that prompted Meg and Joell to invite 27 women poets to respond to an eclectic collection of 50 black-and-white photographs from the late 1800s to the 1940s. The resulting book is a collection of vibrant, thought-provoking writing by contemporary poets delving into the nature of memory and loss—speculating about those we've never heard about, those who never made it into our family legacy or lore. This is a book of wondering and inventing. It is a tribute to the unknown.

The video was made by Jacalyn White and Joell Hallowell, with original music by Tricia Garlock. It offers a lyrical interpretation of "Shadowed: Unheard Voices," with readings and excerpts of poems by: Ellen Bass, Rita Flores Bogaert, Aurora Bracket, Gina Maria Caruso, Maxine Chernoff, Chella Courington, Rachelle Escamilla, Rae Freudenberger, Joell Hallowell, Gabriela Jauregui, Tsipi Keller, Susanna Kittredge, Ali Lawrence, Genny Lim, Tanuja Mehrotra, Toni Mirosevich, Gail Mitchell, L. J. Moore, Tiare Picard, Susan M. Schultz, Deema K. Shehabi, Jennifer Sweeney, Yolanda Valenzuela, Mary Michael Wagner, Deborah Wood, Meg Withers, Aileen Yoo.

For more info go to: shadowedthebook.com