Briggs has written in reference to The Room: “Beginning in 1993, I corresponded off and on with poet Mark Strand. I always felt I was on the verge of creating images that could stand beside his words. After three failed attempts, this notion became a standing joke that I told only to myself. I once wrote to Mark that I did not understand his poems, but could not stay away from them.”
Strand replied, “Love comes first, understanding later on. There is no rush to understand.”
“Mark’s words proved to be true. Several decades later, I turned my back for a moment and one of his poems bled into my work. The Room became my geography.”
“It is an old story, the way it happens is the first line of Mark Strand’s poem, The Room. This portrait of Mark (pictured above) is the last woodcut I completed in a suite that pays homage to the poet, as well as to this specific poem. I was fortunate to spend the evening of November 9, 2014, with Mark to tell him one last time how much his work has meant to me over the years. He died 20 days later.”