What inspires you in this poem? What drew you to it?
Artist David Bernardy: I enjoy how this poem offers a kind of secret history of the thistle plant.  It feels like a poetic etymology.  And it seems to be finding the beautiful in the everyday, in the overlooked. I like how this secret history coupled with the strength, resilience, and tenderness one must find at a place like Thistle Farms. 

What surprised or struck you once you saw the finished broadside?
Poet Jennifer Jean: I was surprised that David was able to visually reflect my archaic references and verbal tics—by including the older seeming photo-triptych, two evidently older map segments, and what seems to be a weathered drawing of a thistle (possibly from a weathered herbarium?).

Collaborators: Jennifer Jean’s debut poetry collection is  The Fool (Big Table 2013). She teaches Free2Write poetry workshops to sex-trafficking survivors. Artist David Bernardy is an artist, a writer and a dad. He likes lost things, old things, and dogs.