Tensile: A Sublime Love Story: including "Love's Philosophy" a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley 1819 / Bisphenol Data compiled by Professor Alyce DeMarais 2017-2021

Tacoma, WA:: Springtide Press,, 2021.. Edition of 35. 6 x 8 inches, expands to 60 inches. Letterpress printed from single-use plastics and handset type by Jessica Spring. Paper Rite-in-the Rain and Pike. Binding leporello structure with pop-up text panels. Plastic covers. Bound by Jessica Spring & Gabby Cooksey. Signed and numbered by Jessica Spring. Jessica Spring: "'A Sublime Love Story' weaves together a 19th century poem of seduction by Percy Bysshe Shelley, with current research on bisphenol contamination in our environment, food, water and bodies. Used to manufacture plastics and resins for food and drink packaging, bisphenol A (BPA) impacts the endocrine system, impairing development and reproductive health of animals and humans. BPA analogues, including BPE and BPS, are similar reproductive toxicants with transgenerational effects. 19th century writers didn't know synthetic plastic would emerge in 1907 to change the world. Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein', published in 1818, foreshadows the cost and complexity of scientific progress and defying the natural order. In the midst of industrialization, Romantic era poets bore the responsibility of reinvigorating a spiritual connection to nature by portraying the Sublime. Both poet and scientist note the world is full of interconnectedness. Percy Shelley celebrates the mingling of rivers and oceans while scientists conclude that exposure to bisphenol contamination is ubiquitous. 'Tensile' explores the irony of our sublime love affair with plastic, a monster of our own creation.