she presses coriander
leaves to her puffy
eyes she rinses
the alabaster juglet
in the copper tray
she arrays like tally
marks the pins pulled
loose to spill her
hair on his feet
her hands warmed
by his feet burnished
feet she salted
with tears damp holy
feet she kissed and patted
and wiped with the fall
of her silken hair
Elizabeth Pelley, Girl On Brown Paper (digital print)
Artist's Commentary:
When I read "The Foot Washer" for the first time, I thought of this print. Girl On Brown Paper is part of a series of studies I did for a group of work focused on the iconography of the Virgin. Both the poem and the print express a sensual, religious experience. I am fond of how the wild hair in my piece echoes the hair falling on Christ's feet in the poem. I also have a special affection for coriander.