Fortress Into Lair Poem by gershon hepner

She has turned into a lair
the fortress where she once could not
be harmed, and lies within it bare,
while hoping love won’t hurt a lot.

Inspired by a pyramidal sculpture by Louise Bourgeois, “Lair” (1966) . Concerning this piece Marina Warner commented: “She has turned into a fortress her lair.” Warner may be correct in her appraisal of this work, but it strikes me that in many of her other works Louise Bourgeois is working in a lair in which she seeks to be simultaneously loved and hurt.

1/23/09