tenderly-deborah-kerr

 

Click on the image to go to Tangren's book in progress

Sheʼs often evoked through opposites.

The story of her “being discovered” is of

a Gabriel whose annunciation came in

these words: “Sweet virgin, are you an

actress?”

When she managed to answer that she

was, he said “Take down your hair; you

look like a tart!”

Ancient dichotomy, the virgin
and the whore.
The spiritual and the sexual,
which our culture held so separate;
yet, from the beginning,
it seems, she was vividly both.

People note how she combines
 great strength with vulnerability.

And because of her Iʼve never thought
there need be a conflict  between
feminine and feminist
.  
One more:   With the very same words,
the same gesture, which proved to young
Tom forever that he was not a fairy,
she showed me past all question
that I was.

from Tenderly by Tangren Alexander