HOWARD S. CARMAN, JR.

A collaboration of father and son, this collection of paintings (Sr.) and poems (Jr.) captures nearly 90 years of memories, dreams, and visions. Both are ekphrastic: some poems written in response to paintings; some art painted in response to poems; some written and painted independently in response to common experience or memory.

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Dragons and Chiggers brings together original watercolor paintings and poems that speak to one another across each spread. This collection explores nature, imagination, and the life journeys of a father (artist) and son (poet). Each spread creates a quiet dialogue between visual and verbal expression—an invitation to pause, look closely, and inhabit a moment of stillness. The paintings draw from natural forms, shifting light, and the emotional textures of landscape. The poems respond with lyric clarity, exploring memory, attention, and the inner weather of being human. Ideal for readers of contemporary poetry, lovers of watercolor art, and anyone drawn to books that blend visual and literary craft into a single contemplative experience.

Praise for Dragons and Chiggers:

Watercolor and poems speak across generations, turning memory into craft and devotion into texture. Filled with imagistic beauty and sophistication, the poems move with tenderness and grit, attentive to the sacredness of ordinary life and the gentle ache of time.

— WILLIAM G. WRIGHT, author of Grass Chapels, Tree Heresies, Night Field Anecdote, and Dark Orchard

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A soulful tribute to faith, heritage, and the natural world, this collection is a must-have for those who find beauty in a brushstroke and wisdom in poetry.

— MILLIE J. BRUMMET, Ph.D., Artist

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Rooted in the textures of the natural world, the meaning of home, and a gentle spiritual longing, the collection traces the deep currents of family, imagination, and time. What emerges is more than a pairing of art and poetry: it is an enduring conversation between generations, where memory becomes landscape and love becomes legacy.

— DANITA DODSON, author of Between Gone and Everlasting and The Medicine Woods

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This collection of art and poetry is one to leave on the coffee table, not only to impress friends and visitors, but to revel in again and again.

— KB BALLENTINE, author of All the Way Through, Spirit of Wild, and Edge of the Echo

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The paintings of Howard, Sr., and words of Howard, Jr., unite in a beautiful marriage of watercolor image and poetic expression that creates an artistic whole to bring delight to anyone who opens the book. In Dragons and Chiggers the generations not only meet, they embrace one another in mutual love and celebration.

— CONNIE JORDAN GREEN, author of Nameless as the Minnows, Darwin’s Breath, and other titles

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This collection is more than a collaboration; it reflects lineage, influence, and shared devotion to art. May readers find within these pages not only beauty, but connection—a reminder that creativity can bridge generations and that art, at its best, is an act of love.

— ANNA KIMI PARKER, Artist