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Sharon Ann LaCour's avatar

Ruth I have her on my shelf with the unicorn from postcards I got at the cloisters. I try to go there every time I’m in New York. Your poem is great, it captures a certain a

Sadness I always feel when I look at the tapestry. Thank you. I’ll be doing a reading in Brooklyn in March if you’re interested. Maybe you’re not in nyc?

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Ruth Lexton's avatar

Thank you, Sharon. I'm so glad you like the poem. Sadly, I'm not in NYC any more otherwise I would have loved to.

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NP's avatar

What a great trip down memory lane. I miss the cloisters. Thanks for sharing your poem, RL!

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Ruth Lexton's avatar

Glad you enjoyed it!

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Rajani Radhakrishnan's avatar

Very creative take from the POV of the missing lady... ekphrastic poems add so many layers that only enhance the visual experience.

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Ruth Lexton's avatar

Thank you!

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Emma Goldman-Sherman's avatar

I love "my threaded soul" and so much more here. You are a marvel! I live just 20 blocks from the Cloisters and have spent so much time in its calm. It's good to know you were here.

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Ruth Lexton's avatar

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. I hope I get to return to the Cloisters someday.

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Emma Goldman-Sherman's avatar

If you do, you'll have to let me know. I'll meet you there in person, and we'll have to go for lunch or something. The more I think about how you gave her the blue dress, the more I think it's the right impulse. It makes a kind of wave of poetic license. It means that the weaver made the blue dress red - that there is agency in art in varied ways. The hidden parts and what we see and what the model thought or wore and what the artist did and what the poet does all layer together to create ekphrastic discourse toward (extra) meaning. Oh Ruth, you got me to sound like I know something by your craft and how you've done so much in this piece so coherently!

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Ruth Lexton's avatar

Oh that would be wonderful. I feel like the overlaps of time and place that this poem is engendering are whirring into being or existing somehow in the Cloisters continuum. Yes it was all driving towards layers of interpretation and meaning and unknowability. It's lovely to see that it makes sense to someone else!

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Artemisia Writes's avatar

This is fascinating! I should re-read The Lady and the Unicorn (Chevalier). I think it might be based on the Paris tapestry.

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