poemetry

Monday, April 06, 2009

Homage to a signature...

I've been steeped in Plath/Hughes stuff lately, shooting pics of some of my collection for my new blog and some of that has bled through to this blog too. I shot my Moon and Yew piece (and posted it) simply because I was in the room with my camera shooting books, etc. And when taking a picture of my bit of paper that has Sylvia's hand writ name on it, it reminded me of a poem I wrote a few years ago, trying to project how special I thought it was to have something in my hand that she had in hers. Posting the poem at my 'sylviaandtedcollection' blog is too much of a tangent to what I'm doing over there...so, I'll clutter up this blog with my poem.

....... .
Her Autograph

Spelled 40 years plus unknown more
No lapis sphinx or colossal marble arm-
Diamonds can dull and crumble,
Stars collapse into black
This tattooed bit of aged page,
Wears the crown; is the crown.

Touched, considered
Scrawled at her pace, with
Ink lassoed in flat, drab black-
On paper her hands casually clasped.
Curves, loops and that hung ahead dot,
Hovers over the empty spot.

Tangling myth with revered fact,
A prism of impressions dwell.
With séance glance i sense the strokes
As echoes from the past still ring
From her simple autograph,
Just a simple autograph.

posted by Laurie at 4:28 PM

4 Comments:

  • Laurie, What a marvelous thing to have. Can I be so bold as to ask....where did that "little bit of paper with Sylvia's name writ on it" come from?
    --Jim Long

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:35 AM  

  • Hi Jim~
    I don't mind explaining...I'd written briefly at my 'collection' blog that it was an ebay find a few years ago. I really don't know much more about it than that. The seller, if I remember right, was not a professional dealer or anything like that. Their explanation at the time lead me to believe it was what they said it was and that they had come across it vicariously (they were not the 'clipper'). I was pretty surprised that there were few (if any) other bidders and got it for what I considered a bargain of 125$
    I know my poem sounds like a lot of hyperbole...but initially when I got this item, I was just in awe. I still am, but it has tempered over time. And I rarely look back and continue to 'like' any of my poems...

    There is nothing in the writing that leads me to believe it is anything other than Her sig.

    By Blogger Laurie, at 12:26 PM  

  • I don't doubt that it's Her signature. I was mostly curious about what kind of document it could have been that someone would cut off the signature to sell separately. I remember there were some signed greeting cards for sale a while ago, but they were in the $700. range. The only Hughes/Plath signature I have is a little pamphlet of Hughes' "Season Songs for Children" that was printed in an edition of 500 copies, of which 150 were signed and dated in Jan. 1969. I paid $125 for that one.

    Actually, if I were you, and had a first edition of either The Bell Jar or Ariel (I have the 1st American ed.) I would tip that signature into the front of that book (don't glue it flat on the page)...it would increase the value significantly (a lot more than $125) even though it's not flat-signed in the book itself. Just a suggestion.

    Speaking of Ebay, that reminds me, did you happen to see that someone was selling pieces of bark from the 'actual' Yew Tree, for $75. a piece?!
    --Jim

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:33 PM  

  • Hey Jim~
    Have you visited my 'collection' page? It's still a workinprogress but there are some lovely things there :)

    The tipping in idea is worth considering should I ever decided to sell. I never saw the greeting cards, but don't think the $700 is too inflated. Like I said, I thought I got this for a bargain. Sylvia's sig is so rare. All I can tell about its beginning is that it is some sort of 'book' type paper. The seller came across it in a wax paper envelope, so they didn't know.

    Yes! I remember the Yew on ebay! It's so funny you mention it, because when I was messsing around getting my picture (below) onto my computer the other day I was thinking about that. I was tempted. Did you happen to get a piece? It did sound legit, but I passed...
    cheers,
    L

    By Blogger Laurie, at 7:28 AM  

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