Sunday, June 20, 2010

Pieces of Me: Frieda Hughes



This painting of her husband, Laszlo Lukacs, by Frieda Hughes is just one of 15 'pieces of me' displayed by the poet and artist at http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/gallery/2008/may/30/poetry.art?picture=334465624

What an interesting concept. What 15 pieces of ephemera would you present to display yourself? Frieda shows us a couple of her paintings, Wellington boots mixed with high heels, a favourite jacket from childhood, and - a cement mixer! I think mine would feature CDs and books. I don't have the Hopalong Cassidy outfit I wore as a child, or the set of glitter bongos I first played as a teenage drummer. Maybe a few old LPs remain in a cardboard box in the top of a cupboard: Allen Ginsberg reading 'Howl', Van Morrison with The Chieftans. The tooth fairy has my first teeth. Much of my old life has gone to the tip, thin pickings for seagulls who once clustered there. Now it's a tip no more but a Waste Disposal Centre - scant fun in that for a barefoot boy on weekends. Even my faithful old 1913 Smith Corona portable has gone to the tip, it's razor-edged 'O' startling no-one anymore.

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