Last week, along with Glasgow Women’s Library’s popular Read, Relax, Recharge! lunchtime reading group, I ventured out from the frowsy confines of the library and climbed up to the light-filled studio at the top of the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow.
What, you might ask, tempted us away from our usual haunt? Nothing less than the Illuminated Letters project currently being run jointly by GWL and the gallery to co-incide with the Niki de St Phalle exhibition and GWL moving to its new home in Bridgeton.
As well as hearing more about the Niki de St Phalle collection, and how Niki’s letters became the inspiration for the Illuminated Letters project, we held our normal Read, Relax, Recharge! lunchtime session.
The first text we read was from Between Ourselves: Letters between Mothers and Daughters. GWL Librarian, Wendy Kirk, who co-hosts these lunchtime sessions with me, chose a very touching letter written by American poet, Anne Sexton, to her daughter for her twenty first birthday. Tragically this was just a few months before Anne committed suicide.
We then read a lovely, upbeat letter written by June Hird, the mother of Scottish author, Laura Hird, from Dear Laura, Letters from a Mother to her Daughter. Full of wit and love, June’s letter led to a discussion about mother/daughter relationships and whether or not the email could ever truly replace the handwritten letter.
As if having good food and lively discussion was not enough, we then went downstairs for a look at the Niki de St Phalle exhibition.
Lauren reads Niki’s book on Aids, written in the form of a letter to her son.
Niki’s artwork led to a lot of very lively discussion. And we finished the day off back up in the studio with a cup of tea and a the following lovely poem from American poet, Mary Oliver.
A Letter From Home
She sends me news of blue jays, frost,
Of stars and now the harvest moon
That rides above the stricken hills.
Lightly, she speaks of cold, of pain,
And lists what is already lost.
Here where my life seems hard and slow,
I read of glowing melons piled
Beside the door, and baskets filled
With fennel, rosemary and dill,
While all she could not gather in
Or hid in leaves, grow black and falls.
Here where my life seems hard and strange,
I read her wild excitement when
Stars climb, frost comes, and blue jays sing.
The broken year will make no change
Upon her wise and whirling heart; –
She knows how people always plan
To live their lives, and never do.
She will not tell me if she cries.
I touch the crosses by her name;
I fold the pages as I rise,
And tip the envelope, from which
Drift scraps of borage, woodbine, rue.
Reading Mary’s poem was a lovely way to finish our session.
Read, Relax, Recharge! sessions run every Thursday lunchtime at Glasgow Women’s Library from 12 until 2. Why not bring a bite of lunch and come along if you’re free? It’s a great way to meet other women, and discover writers and poets you might otherwise not think of reading. You’ll be very welcome!
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