two bits of May Morris news.
POEM by Sarah Doyle
Threads
I’m the life picked out in needlework, embroidered,
a chain-stitch away from parents whose artistry was
remarkable. I am the satin-stitch of dusky grapes, a
woman with fingers that spun silvery vines, wrought
always in a green that winter cannot wither. This I
was, and am, and more. I am a tangle of strawberries,
though this seed did not fall far from its trees. I am
none and all of these. I am fastened, coiled in skeins
of inheritance, soft as heather, the trellis of violets
you could almost smell. I am speckling feathers that
seemed to take flight, birds fledged of frame, calling
to my herringbone soul, a fly-stitch song. I am all that I
think and sew, all that I made and did not make. And
So the silk is cut, and I am where the threads break.
a chain-stitch away from parents whose artistry was
remarkable. I am the satin-stitch of dusky grapes, a
woman with fingers that spun silvery vines, wrought
always in a green that winter cannot wither. This I
was, and am, and more. I am a tangle of strawberries,
though this seed did not fall far from its trees. I am
none and all of these. I am fastened, coiled in skeins
of inheritance, soft as heather, the trellis of violets
you could almost smell. I am speckling feathers that
seemed to take flight, birds fledged of frame, calling
to my herringbone soul, a fly-stitch song. I am all that I
think and sew, all that I made and did not make. And
So the silk is cut, and I am where the threads break.
Published in Pre-Raphaelite Review Spring 2018
@PoetSarahDoyle: 'The May Morris quotes were painted onto the walls at the William Morris exhibition, and I found those two lines really inspiring! She’s a fascinating and important figure.'.
EXHIBITION
'May Morris Art and Life' will be re-shown, in slightly different iteration, at the Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh, in autumn 2019. In due course the information will be posted here https://dovecotstudios.com/
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