You Can't Have It All: Poem by Barbara Ras, Paintings by Terrell James

Poetry and painting have enjoyed a long life together, with artists like Cy Twombly and Joan Mitchell using poetry in their works and poets like John Ashbery and Ron Padgett working closely with visual artists. The tradition of artists and poets collaborating continues in You Can’t Have It All.

This elegant and intimate book presents Ras’s poem “You Can’t Have It All,” which has enjoyed a long life of appreciation by many fans worldwide. Enthusiastic readers, writers, workshop leaders, Buddhist practitioners, and poetry therapists have used the poem to mark occasions, teach classes, and inspire students.

Paintings by Terrell James elevate the lines of the poem to a new level of resonance. She often turns to poetry for inspiration in her studio. For James, a poem reflects the knowledge from the entire life of the poet, and she often uses lines from poems as titles for artworks.

Given the wide appeal and the insightful depth of the work by both of these artists, it’s no wonder they found one another for this radiant collaboration.

Barbara Ras is the author of four poetry collections: The Blues of Heaven; The Last Skin, which was named the Texas Institute of Letters Best Book of 2010; One Hidden Stuff; and Bite Every Sorrow, which won the Walt Whitman Award and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. She is also the editor of Costa Rica: A Traveler’s Literary Companion, an anthology of short fiction in translation. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations, among others, and has had residencies from the Bellagio Center, the Hermitage, Ucross Foundation, and the Vermont Studio Center. Ras has taught at the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and other workshops nationally and internationally and has served as a Fulbright specialist at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. For forty years she worked in book publishing, most recently as the founding director of the revitalized Trinity University Press. She lives in Denver.

Terrell James is a painter and educator. She has worked for the Smithsonian Institution and Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. Her work has been included in nine books, most recently 4 Paintings: Terrell James. She is the recipient of numerous awards, residencies, and fellowships and is widely collected and represented in galleries. She lives in Houston.

Terrell James is a painter and educator. She has worked for the Smithsonian Institution and Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. Her work has been included in nine books, most recently 4 Paintings: Terrell James. She is the recipient of numerous awards, residencies, and fellowships and is widely collected and represented in galleries. She lives in Houston.