Quilt, Inez Storer, 46" x 46", 2007.
Dear Archeology,
I wanted to be one, once, you know? An archeologist. I thought it would be fun to piece together the past by digging for broken shards and pieces.
I saw a woman I used to know on the street the other day.
I ducked, and hid, and ran.
She was standing, a little on her heels, a little bit back, maybe her arms were half crossed. She was looking towards the pavement, down. There was another woman there, taller, blonde, I think; much more substantial. She leaned kind of forward, in contrast, like maybe she had to be closer to hear the words. I wondered why, or rather how, I recognized her. It was the shape, the attitude, yes, but perhaps also the aura.
I felt that creeping stiffness, when I saw her- that invisible forcefield one tries to erect when under fire. I remember that feeling so well, from so long ago, when I was just a young woman, and not nearly as sure of my right to be here, and so, when I see her now, I am reduced to a quaking jelly that is not able to move, or defend itself. I saw her, and I hid, and I thought of you, growing up under that wing, and I saw so clearly that you were maybe always the parent, and not the child, and oh! I cried for you, and for her, and for me, too, and for all the fragments buried that are the evidence of all the lives and wounds and sufferings.
