Heriz or Tabriz, Northwest Iran, Fantasy Animal Carpet with Poem (Vaq Vaq Carpet) (detail), about 1880. Hand-knotted silk pile; silk warp and weft; 196 x 146.75 in. Neusteter Textile Collection at the Denver Art Museum: Gift of James E. Stokes and Mrs. Donald Magarrell, 1956.38.
Modern poets, too, use carpets as metaphor. Such as the Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad (1934–1967), who mused about silence, spirituality, sensuality, and feminism, often using carpets as metaphors. For example, following is an excerpt from her poem Wind-up Doll:
Inside eternal hours
one can fix lifeless eyes on the smoke of a cigarette,
on a cup’s form,
the carpet’s faded flowers,
or on imaginary writings on
the wall.
Even more explicit is Armenian-American poet Peter Balakian’s (b. 1951) long poem The Oriental Rug. Here is an excerpt:
Now I undo the loops
of yarn I rested my head on.
Under each flower
a tufted pile loosens.
I feel the wool give way
as if six centuries of feet
had worn it back to the hard
earth floor it was made to cover.
Six centuries of Turkish heels
on my spine-dyed back:
madder, genista, sumac—
one skin color in the soil.
As you explore the exhibition, in addition to seeing how the art of carpet making is still a living practice throughout western Asia, we hope you also consider the artistic relationship between weaving and poetry.
