THE CHAIR AS A METAPHOR FOR POETRY

I purchased this vintage chair from Kathleen La France’s Etsy shop, lilalafrance. (It’s pictured next to one of Kathleen’s lovely paintings.)  Here is another shot from when it arrived in my home:

Kathleen said about the chair: “This is a beautifully handwoven chair from the 1980s. It stands 6" high. It is made from a wire base and then is handwoven with thread and string. I found it at an arts and crafts show in Los Angeles sometime during 1980s.You can see the wire poking out in a few places and it's a little wobbly, but it is complete. The detail is exquisite.”

I, too, would call the chair "exquisite"!  I’m amazed that the chair hasn’t had any breaks in the thread – the thread is as thin as ordinary thread.  In looking at it, I came to think of the fragile, but still-held-together, chair as a metaphor for poetry.  How poetry can be fragile and strong at the same time.  How the fragility of the material can still make the object/poem last because it is so well-made.

Taking the analysis (ahem) further, if this chair was a poem, it’d probably be an ars poetica poem as the chair reveals of what it’s made (“the wire poking out in a few places”), nor does it seem fearful of imperfection (“a little wobbly”).  But that’s just Moi blathering … Here’s another shot that shows its artistry:

Finally, here’s a shot lilylafrance took of the bottom of the chair—again, lovely (just as a great poem from any side, e.g. broken into excerpts or individual lines, would still be effective):

[Prov.: Kathleen La France/Etsy lilylafrance.  Scale: 6”height and 3” width.]