This book demonstrates Weiner's theory of allegory. The ship motif sets the tone for a voyage that is a metaphor for the act of reading.'
The full title of the book is 'The travel of Margaret-Mary (in search of a suitable mise-en-scene) Ducks on a pond'.
Ducks on a Pond contains several layers, first of all, three works are presented in the book :
- 562 : The boulders on top rent & split
- 563 : Water over the side
- 564 : High out of water
Further there is a discourse on theater/film and the function of the actor, a country-and-western song, the repeated picture of a ship, photographs of film productions seen from the perspective of someone standing behind the scenes, and a collage of drawings of sums with cropped maps of certain island regions.