Off The Page~ a multimedia exploration of painting, poetry, storytelling and music
A poem by Maj Ragain
The poet Lalla left her husband
to wander fourteenth century Kashmir,
singing, clapping her hands,
dancing on her heels.
Lalla, her name spells ‘darling.’
In bad weather, she was naked.
She lived in her soul.
She wanted paradise.
What husband could give her that.
Dogen tells me the mountains are walking.
They are at rest and they are walking.
If I do not understand how the mountains walk,
I do not yet understand my own walking.
Lalla Finds Her Wings was first inspired by a conversation I had with Maj Ragain during our summer residency at the FAWC of 2001. He told me that Lalla, an Indian woman mystic was very oppressed and yet, she danced and sang to her way to enlightenment.
In Feb - March 2021, I decided to re -work the lower half of the painting and brought color up the right leg to the tip of her fingers. With so much re-working I added 2021.
From Ragain, Maj. Burley One Dark Sucker Fired:Collected Poems, Working Lives Series, Bottom Dog Press. Huron, Ohio. 1998
p. 59