Pondering Poetry and Poets

I have been thinking about selvages. I have used them in quilting since I heard Karen Griska [see side bar, Selvage Blog] talk about using them. She showed some wonderful quilts and, at that time, had just written her book.

I hate to throw things away. I generally used selvages if I could in quilting [though hidden in a seam usually. Selvages are marginal by definition. I've always read poetry and think a great deal about women poets, many of whom have been, in the past and still are, marginalized. How many American women poets can most people name? Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, Maya Angelou and ... how many more? There are MANY. Many of their books are on my book shelves. I recently found out about Kay Ryan who was U.S. poet laureate 2009-2010. I had never heard of her but now I am reading a collection of her work and loving it. I discovered Jane Hirschfield this fall and she's one of my new favorites.

Being a combiner -- aren't nearly all quilters combiners? -- I began to think of marginalized poets and selvages and decided to maybe do a series of little quilts for marginalized women poets. So here is a first pass with Kay Ryan. I will turn the photograph into a fabric one and sew it onto the square. I have written in my not very pretty long hand one of her short intense poems -- I think I need to go over it again with the black Sharpie marker -- or maybe I need to make another square and try writing bigger and neater.

I'm also wondering whether to add that multicolored selvage as a binding. I don't need to because the square has been backed pillowcase style. The theoretical me says I shouldn't border it, I should leave the poetry bare, out there, as the poet does, not prettied and framed. But I want my effort to be noticeable. So I'm pondering. I have a list of poets, I could be at this project for some time. I'd love some opinions from others.