LADY FREEDOM AMONG US; [signed by author and artist]

(West Burke, VT: Janus Press, 1994). First edition, and only edition. Just 110 copies in total. The thought-provoking poem written (and read) by Dove in commemoration of the return of the repaired and refurbished "Freedom" statue to its perch atop the then-newly restored Dome of the United States Capitol, October 23, 1993. Later collected in ON THE BUS WITH ROSA PARKS (1999).

In the poem, Dove writes of "Freedom" as though she were a bag lady who has "risen among us in blunt reproach" demanding to be seen by passers-by. She dares us not to avert our gaze, not to hope she'll go away ("don't think you can ever forget her/ don't even try/ she's not going to budge") and closes resolutely, reminding us we have "no choice but to grant her space/ crown her with sky/ for she is one of the many/ and she is each of us." Brava.

Number 13 of just 100 copies (with an additional 10 copies being hors commerce) SIGNED BY RITA DOVE, the Pulitzer Prize-winning former Poet Laureate, AND BY THE ARTIST and founder of Janus Press, Claire Van Vliet.

An ELABORATELY PRODUCED ART BOOK made with heavy, handmade papers. 4to double-fold blue covers with image of statue in black at head of spine and with white, embossed, cut-out of dome folded over; text printed on short, white pages sandwiched between Janus-like faces cut from brown mica-flecked paper, as is the pop-out image of "Lady Freedom" at center. Housed in a clear, ribbed plastic chemise and blue cloth-covered slipcase with decorative white paper label printed in red and blue on spine. Altogether fine. Understandably scarce.