A Face Is a Poem

In delicate digitally finished multimedia drawings, Morstad (A Rose, a Bridge, and a Wild Black Horse) meditates on faces—as seen in crowds, clouds, and elsewhere (“Even a potato/ has eyes!”). Each detail draws the viewer in: “The soft and smooth/ or crinkly skin,/ the just-so nose,// the delicate/ scratchy hairs/ and all those/ one-of-a-kind-marks.” Images blend the real and the dreamlike, sometimes in black-and-white, sometimes in gently tinted wash. On one page, a group of people examines a huge sculpture of a head; on another, a starry constellation makes up a visage (“A face is a poem/ with all the parts put together,/ adding up to someone/ you love”). A grid of thumbnail-like portraits depicts beings young and old from arrayed angles—gazing up two nostrils, looking closely at a pair of lips. Other pages imagine faces traded (“to see through someone else’s eyes”) and survey expressions and imaginative features. “A face is to love,” concludes this untethered session of wondering, a look at the way bodies and countenances can change and endure. Individuals are portrayed with various abilities and skin tones. Ages 3–7. (Sept.)