Now available in limited edition hardcover and paperback formats.

Is the ordinary really so ordinary? Or illuminated in different light, does it reveal something far beyond what we previously imagined? In The Purpose of Things, poet Peter Serchuk and photographer Pieter de Koninck pair fresh language and images to create a landscape of new possibilities filled with insight and humor.

Praise for The Purpose of Things

Such a magical collaboration between imagery and text inspires our own enlightening, creative explorations. After viewing each beautifully composed photograph and reading each line of the accompanying poem, one sets sail on their own journey of discovery and realization. A powerfully expansive marriage of word and picture.

– Brian Taylor, Former Executive Director, The Center for Photographic Art

The Purpose of Things is a rare and powerful synergy of poetry and photographic art. Like flint and steel, two probing and independent visions collide upon these pages, creating a shower of brilliant sparks. As a coffee-table book, this one’s a double shot of espresso. If you thought there was nothing new to say on these timeless themes, think—and look—again!

– Dan Veach, Poet and founding editor of Atlanta Review

Peter Serchuk and Pieter de Koninck connect word with image throughout The Purpose of Things in a way that creates a distinctive link between the two art forms.The verbal and visual combinations in this volume are stunningly intriguing and ultimately inspiring.

– Edward Byrne, Poet, Photographer and Editor of the Valparaiso Poetry Review

The Purpose of Things is a terrific collaboration between words and images, but also between the objects and arenas we navigate on a daily basis. Pieter de Koninck’s evocative photographs are in a perfect marriage with Peter Serchuk’s expressive and poignant poetry and the result is a delightful reconsideration of what’s right in front of us.

– Aline Smithson, Internationally acclaimed photographer, artist and curator.

When William Carlos Williams said of poetry “No ideas but in things,” he seems to have predicted the power of these pairs of poems and photographs. This book allows us to experience things, poetically, in their transcendent states.

—Robert Stewart, editor, New Letters; author, Working Class.