Ecopoesia

The Origin of Weaving

Cecilia Vicuña

origin

from oriri: the coming out of the stars

 

weave

from weban, wefta, Old English

weft, cross thread

                             web

the coming out

of the cross-star

 

the interlacing of

warp and weft

 

to imagine the first cross

intertwining of branches and twigs

to make a nest

to give birth

 

the first spinning of a thread

to cross spiraling

a vegetable fiber imitating a vine

 

the first thread coming out of fleece trapped in

vegetation

 

the first cross to warp and weft

union of high and low, sky and earth,

woman and man

 

the first know, beginning of the spiral:

life and death, birth and rebirth

 

textile, text, context

from teks: to weave, to fabricate, to make wicker or

    wattle for mud-coverd walls (Paternosto)

sutra: sacred Buddhist text

      thread (Sanskrit)

 

tantra: sacred text derived from the Vedas: thread

 

ching: as in Tao Te Ching or I Ching

                    sacred book: warp

                    wei: its commentaries: weft

 

Quechua:     the sacred language

                     derived from q’eswa:

                     rope or cord made of straw

 

to weave a new form of thought:

        connect

bring together in one



Vicuña, Cecilia. “Unravelling Words & the Weaving of Water”. Minnesota: Graywolf Press, 1992. p. 9-10. Translated by Eliot Weinberger and Suzanne Jill Levine.




Comment Box is loading comments...