Before I post about the poetry though, here's a little pimping of the book itself. It's well worth buying if you like Magne's art and poetry.
Payne's Gray by Magne F
Published by Hatje Cantz in 2004.
Deluxe edition boxed book with album CD.
Signed by the artist and numbered 191/500.
I bought my copy of Payne's Gray at the exhibition in Edinburgh in November 2004.

Box cover. Measures 12.5" x 12.5".

Box cover detail.

The book itself.

A promotional sheet that was included (or I picked up in the gallery, I can't remember which). Includes a description of the project, written by Selene Wendt.
"In the seamlessly entwined work defined as Payne's Gray, Magne F's poetry is to the lyrics and the music what his texts are to the images and compositions. He navigates the challenging minefield of interdisciplinary rebelliousness, coming up with answers to questions most people never before considered, and then posing them anew just to keep us wondering."

The other side of the promotional sheet.

This CD single was given out in the gallery at the opening. It is a mix of the song 'Past Perfect Future Tense' plus some short excerpts of other songs from the album. On the back of the CD sleeve are details of the exhibitions in London and Edinburgh, and the live performance at Notting Hill Arts Club (below).

And there it is: the only personally signed item in my music collection :-)
OK, now it's on to pictures of the book content. Here are a few page layouts to give you an idea visually of what is included. There are pictures from both the art and music creation process, as well as handwritten and typed poems/lyrics.


Here you can see four different poems layered on the page:

A couple of my favorite page layouts:



The album CD included in the back of the book:

Poetry ramblings to follow...