Aster of Ceremonies (2023)
book (softcover, 144 pages, 9 × 7 × 0.25 in)
audiobook (read by the author, 6 hours and 18 minutes)
performance (duration variable)
Supported in part by Creative Capital.
Select performance presentations:
Harvard University, September 2023
Yale Schwarzman Center, January 2024
Bemis Center, March 2024
University of Illinois, April 2024
E-WERK Luckenwalde, May 2024
Whitney Museum, July 2024
PICA TBA Festival, September 2024
Read Sean Beckford's reflections on an Aster of Ceremonies performance.
Read Diane R. Wiener's review of the book.
The cover of this book shows a hand-drawn illustration of a Plant with pale purple-blue flowers (the word “Plant” is capitalized in this book as a way of showing respect to botanical life). This Plant is known by several names, including Glaucous Aster and Symphyotrichum laeve. The drawing was made by the British illustrator Sydenham Edwards (1768–1819). The silhouetted illustration appears over a lavender background with rows of white asterisks that evoke lines of text. Six white rectangles are scattered on the lavender background as well. They bear black text that reads (one word per rectangle): “Aster of Ceremonies Poems JJJJJEROME ELLIS.” The cover was designed by Mary Austin Speaker.