{"id":13601,"date":"2011-02-22T05:12:20","date_gmt":"2011-02-22T10:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/?p=13601"},"modified":"2015-06-25T18:06:19","modified_gmt":"2015-06-25T22:06:19","slug":"guest-chair-a-charming-play-on-guest-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2011\/02\/22\/guest-chair-a-charming-play-on-guest-book\/","title":{"rendered":"“guest” chair: a charming play on “guest book”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Stacey Harwood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After reading our post on painting fabric-covered furniture<\/a>, Stacey Harwood sent us an email about her great “guest” chair. “I knew a white chair would not stay white for long in my NYC apartment so I bought some fabric markers<\/a> and I invite our guests to sign it. I’m happy to say that it has been signed by some of our most celebrated poets: Mark Strand and John Ashbery are toward the top; Charles Simic is on the seat. You can also distinguish Jim Cummins, Susan Wheeler and Star Black (poet, collage artist, photographer). To the lower right is Gabriella Gershenson, a senior editor at Saveur. On the left is Deborah Landau and Richard Howard…” <\/em><\/p>\n

Harwood’s husband, David Lehman is series editor of the annual\u00a0The Best American Poetry<\/a> books, which is how they come to have to many fine poets and writers as friends. Their blog is The Best American Poetry.<\/a><\/p>\n

“It’s a wonderful record of the first two years in our apartment and truly a one-of-a-kind piece that gives us much pleasure.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Harwood improvised a whole other order of guest book…<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

….That long list of poets made us poke around the internet to read some poems. Here’s a beauty by Mark Strand:<\/p>\n

The Idea<\/strong><\/p>\n

(for Nolan Miller)<\/p>\n

For us, too, there was a wish to possess
\nSomething beyond the world we knew, beyond ourselves,
\nBeyond our power to imagine, something nevertheless
\nIn which we might see ourselves; and this desire
\nCame always in passing, in waning light, and in such cold
\nThat ice on the valley\u2019s lakes cracked and rolled,
\nAnd blowing snow covered what earth we saw,
\nAnd scenes from the past, when they surfaced again,
\nLooked not as they had, but ghostly and white
\nAmong false curves and hidden erasures;
\nAnd never once did we feel we were close
\nUntil the night wind said, \u201cWhy do this,
\nEspecially now? Go back to the place you belong;\u201d
\nAnd there appeared , with its windows glowing, small,
\nIn the distance, in the frozen reaches, a cabin;
\nAnd we stood before it, amazed at its being there,
\nAnd would have gone forward and opened the door,
\nAnd stepped into the glow and warmed ourselves there,
\nBut that it was ours by not being ours,
\nAnd should remain empty. That was the idea.<\/p>\n

(from The Continuous Life: Poems by Mark Strand; Alfred A. Knopf, 1990)<\/p>\n

Related posts: copy this: paint a pillow\u2026sofa\u2026bedspread\u2026curtain\u2026
\n<\/a>blank canvas furniture<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After reading our post on painting fabric-covered furniture, Stacey Harwood sent us an email about her great “guest” chair. “I knew a white chair would not stay white for long in my NYC apartment so I bought some fabric markers and I invite our guests to sign it. I’m happy to say that it has…<\/p>\nRead More<\/a>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8360,161,6554,8,31,6548,67,6549,8362,8363,1534,8364],"tags":[2000,1999,2002,2001,2003],"yoast_head":"\n"guest" chair: a charming play on "guest book" - Improvised Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After reading our post on painting fabric-covered furniture, Stacey Harwood sent us an email about her great "guest" chair. 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