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Remembering Ophelia (1852)
by Anna Leahy

July 1, 2015 Contributed By: Anna Leahy

I made a pretty painting,
secured a reputation
with Ophelia. The secret is
laudanum—the floaty-floaty feeling—
and the shiver-chill
when the fire went out
under the tub
and left my teeth to clatter;
that’s what created my pallor,
gave the brush its worthy goal.
I held my quiet pose, always anxious
for verbal intercourse, though not
for the real thing.

          Elizabeth Siddal (1829-1862) was an artist’s model, a painter, and a poet
associated with the Pre-Raphaelites and married to Dante Gabriel Rossetti
.

Return to table of contents for Issue 9 Summer 2015.

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Filed Under: Poetry Posted On: July 1, 2015

Further Reading

The Art of Poetry And Translation: How The Disappearing Ox Reimagines a Buddhist Parable
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The Disappearing Ox is available for $28 at Brilliantbooks.com In the 1990s, the artist Max Gimblett suggested a novel yet intriguing project to the poet Lewis Hyde; that they create a modern, American version of the twelfth-century Chinese parable known as the Oxherding series. Hyde agreed, and from there emerged an odyssey into the realm […]

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Edwas, you and I are walking in long strides off a short concourse. We’ve got differences to discuss. I went to Dr. Seliger to admit you. In actuality, I went to admit that you existed. I went to admit that you lay heavy on weak shoulders. I went to admit that when you go to […]

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The train is running off track, the air oneiric and chill. We cut across the forest like thieves. All that derails is one thread of your scarf – I am dizzy with its unravelling. How linear it is. Almost absurd, this logic of movement. The train breaks; the trolley man falls back, burns his face […]

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