Rare Books is a regular column featuring the L.R. Benes Rare Book Room. The L.R. Benes Rare Book Room features artist books, first editions, chapbooks, and broadsides, among many other treasures of literary significance. These holdings are searchable in the Poetry Center catalog and may be viewed by the public upon request during our open hours, Monday through Friday.

Today's feature: Alice M. Vinson's soft. 

Holding this book is like holding an egg, but I was somehow even more afraid it would break. It is, as its title suggests, soft, and carefully felted together with careful hands. 

Inside, the strings hold synonyms for the word "soft," all printed into the tiny paper (also like eggs, but various shapes and sizes). The pleasant indentation of each letter found in any typewritten or typeset text is even more amplified by the tactile nature of the book object and the minimalism of the bright white on which the words are printed. 

Though I felt protective of soft, it also brought me great joy to hold it and to behold it. soft is such a small, delicate thing, but it's full, emphasizing the boundless nature of language and what happens when we take a crack at opening a single word. 

Sarah Gzemski is the Publicity and Publications Coordinator at the Poetry Center and the Managing Editor of Noemi Press.