On the pond in front of the University of North Florida's Thomas G. Carpenter Library, Clark Lunberry and several of his students recently installed a large-scale poem directly onto the surface of the water. During the first week, the poem—made of letters (8 ft. by 8 ft.) cut from thick plastic sheeting, clipped to twine, and installed with a kayak - read: "MURMUR OF WORDS." Then, returning with the kayak the following weekend, a small adjustment was made, adding a "U," while replacing an "R" with an "N," changing the poem slightly (but significantly) to read during the second week: "MURMUR OF WOUNDS."
Simultaneously, installed in the four-story stairwell of the adjacent library - its tall windows facing directly onto the pond - there was an accompanying sound collage composed of the recorded voices of 25 randomly chosen library readers (all of them having been asked to read and record whatever they happened to be reading when approached). Once in place and heard throughout the stairwell, the various voices mingled into a murmur, while the poem on the pond was seen directly below, its words floating upon the water.