A tardigrade drawing.
On a double page spread with text.
Text, I stop somewhere waiting for you.
At his work desk.
Inked title over a portrait under drawing.
A bearded portrait with a sun hat.
A stack of copies.
Hangs a blown up page.
A bearded man.
Posters in an office.
Goes to computer.
Pulls up a video.
Bill stands under a bridge on a park path. The light fades to green.
Allen in his studio drawing on a light table. Bill looks across the masts of sailboats docked at the side of a bay. Sun beams down on him. Text, Tramp. Perpetual. Journey. Ice flows
Continues illustrating in his studio. An iceberg at sea. A truck drives past an alley. Text, Not I. Bill on the side of a road as Walt Whitman. Allen peers over his sketches. Not any one else.
Various types of flowers. Can travel.
Inks along illustrative lettering. Hands caught in strings. That road for you.
A handgun.
A butterfly.
Yellow sunlight reflects on a lake. Bill looks up at the sky.
You. A shack on the beach. Travel for yourself. Bill stands by a barred fence over an overpass in heavy coat.
Do I contradict myself?
Dials a flip phone in a coffee shop. Very well then.
Walks through the woods. I contradict myself. Berries hang from a branch.
A truck passes. An owl inside a barn. Bill steps off a paved walkway on to grass. A bright, open field.
Large. Allen gazes over the rims of his glasses as his pen strokes the paper. A Venus flytrap. I contain multitudes. Green orbs float around a sunny expanse. Bill stands in a forest clearing.
Allen meticulously traces over lettering.
A lizard on a tree trunk. Keep encouraged.
Missing me one place.
Waves wash up on a lake shore. A frog.
Search. A kayaker.
Leafs on a plant. Bill pours tea from an antique brass kettle. Sits against a wall of small framed photos. Flips through Allen's book. Close-ups of the illustrations. A fisherman's shack. An owl. Hands. A swimming frog. A handgun. A kayaker. Trees in a forest. Constellations of stars. Allen carefully inks a page. Flips a sheet. Text, Sop somewhere waiting for you.
Sets the book down on a coffee table and picks up a mug to drink. Whitman Illuminated: Song of Myself, Illustrated by Allen Crawford.
The audience claps as he shuts the projector down.