An earlier, much smaller edition of casemate poems appeared as a limited-edition book produced by Waterloo, Ontario publisher Widows and orphans in 2004 as casemate poems, later translated and published in Belgrade. As Blades himself wrote of that original edition:

The two suites of casemate poems were written during two one-week artist-in-residence stints in 2003 in Fredericton, New Brunswick. These were public, interactive, residencies with visitors passing though the casemate workspace with two concurrent artists-in-residence scheduled for any given week.

During his residency, Blades had a typewriter set up on a table facing the open doorway of the casemate. It was always primed with a sheet of paper. In the tradition of writers in storefronts, as Blades finished composing each poem, it was attached to the casemate wall. Blades also took photographs inside and from within the casemate looking outward: images of the casemate itself, of his art in progress, photographs of the weaving looms, of the potter and pottery turned.

In this volume, Blades poems and photographs are combined to produce a work that reflects the immediacy of their composition while enabling the reader to experience Blades' writing at their own pace.