Poet Marc Zegans says a lot in a small, unique collaborative collection of works.

Marc Zegans has written seven collections of poems. A reviewer for the poetry and film platform Liberated Words, he also regularly gets involved in collaborative projects, be it his work with filmmakers (films based on his poems appear regularly at festivals around the world) or his Ghost Book, a 2024 fine art book he created with photographer Tsar Fedorsky.

The Pacific Grove-based poet is back with another collaborative project, a tête-bêche, or a flip book which includes his poems – or one long poem – titled The Book of Immaculate Perception, and (if you flip the book over) that of his friend and poet Larry Beckett, titled Madrigals. The books are fronts-to-backs in a single spine format, but work together in more than a physical way and neither is given a priority.

The format is “not unknown, but not that common,” Zegans says, emphasizing the fun of flipping and the friendliness of this 6.5 inch square volume, with a “young eye” and an “old ear” sketched on the cover.

Zegans and Beckett (who lives in Oregon) wanted to bring together different perspectives on the same simple topic. Zegans finished a cycle of poems and sent them Beckett’s way. It turned out they were both interested in perception and its quality, Beckett’s experiencing it through fatherhood and the philosophical joys it offers, refreshing senses. But Zegans seeks clarity and purity somewhere else, in a rebirth that comes to a mature artist.

The naivete of a child represents the pure artistic drive, yet children’s creative tools often lack nuance, Zegans explains. The immaculate freshness of the mature artist comes when we “take off our blinders” and make a choice to come with full eyes, with more openness and less ego.

The Book of Immaculate Perception opens with the grayness of the world where shapes are not yet recognized. It ends with the abundance of light and clarity. “There’s nothing but light,” the poet concludes.

Zegans is optimistic about the state of poetry. “There are always good poets,” he says. “But there are not enough readers and no real conversation [between poets and their readers]. “The truth is there are more outlets to publish poetry than ever.”

The Book of Immaculate Perception by Marc Zegans (and Larry Beckett’s Madrigals) is available Tuesday, Aug. 18. Available at Habitat, 169a Fountain Ave., Pacific Grove and atbamboodartpress.com.