Purchase online : $15.00
Available in the Salt Lake area at:
Ken Sanders Rare Books
268 South 200 East
Salt Lake City, UT 84111-2412
801.521.3819
The King's English Bookshop
1511 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
801.484.9100
I Wish Things Were Different
When I was younger I would visit my father at his office in the evenings where he was a poverty attorney for twenty years. Between clients and meetings, he would write. He was helping thousands of people a year for free; simultaneously existing as a lawyer and a starving artist. We’d talked about doing a collaborative project for a long time and I wanted to make some drawings that referenced my family history. From there I Wish Things Were Different was born. Many of the writings in this book are random thoughts and poems, some pieces are journal entries. I sorted through hundreds of pages of my father’s writings and ended up with a book that mirrors my own artwork in many ways. I want the reader/viewer to identify in some emotional way to the nostalgia of a past, even if it’s not their past. Though the title would suggest a melancholy feeling of regret, I think that it’s more of a glimpse into life lived and life left to be discovered. Enjoy.
Kenny was kind enough to let me piggyback on his show I Wish Things Were Different at KAYO Gallery in Salt Lake on November 20, 2009. We did a collaborative effort, put together a book using his art and my writing.
We decided to do a very small first run, 50 copies, and sell them exclusively at KAYO during the show. I didn’t know what to expect. But within moments of opening, people started buying our book. I never understood before how that feels. To actually have someone buy your book.
More importantly, over and over people would comment that they had read something which moved them. The entire opening went that way. People saying kind things, then taking the book home with them to finish.
I have Kenny and artist/writer Cara Despain to thank. They did all of the heavy lifting, came up with a theme, sorted through hundreds of my writings, edited the final selection into what you will read on the following pages. I am grateful to both of them.
--Waine Riches
Thanks to each of the readers who have submitted written comments on Amazon.
Great poetry and pictures, a book worth owning.
"I have read this book several times and intend to read it several more. The art and poetry match like peanut butter and jelly. This book is worth having in one’s personal library and some of the poetry is worth memorizing. Kudos to the author and I hope to read much more of his work."
I laughed, I cried, I was deeply moved, and I will read it again.
"This book is a delicate balance of everyday life. Everyone could find a piece of themselves in one page or another. The author tells things as they are leaving your mind unclouded to take what you want and think what you want giving you a unbiased opinion of each word that he writes. It is far from a novel, but carries bits and pieces of what could be a poetic biography. It is quoteable to the last page. Like I said I laughed, I cried, I was deeply moved, and I will read it again if not purely for the inspiration, then to find something that I missed the first time."
Warm memories
"This is a small book of thoughts, poems, and reminiscences compiled essentially, by the author's son, in looking over his father's papers. While there is nothing monumental about this work, it touched me deeply as I read through and likened some of the observations, photos and memories of my own life. It is reflective and casual. It had a deep impact, and is one of those little books that you go back to again and again."