Lenore the Raven

...with many a flirt and flutter,
In stepped a raven...

The bird saga continues! This is Lenore the Raven: she was just waiting to be created and the moment I first thought of her, she told me exactly how the process would unfold. And I knew exactly to whom she would go.

...with mien of lord or lady...

Well, Lenore had to have a turban. And she had to have her own tarot deck as well as a cloth on which to place the cards. The turban was an interesting process. I started by trying to wrap a traditional turban, following Internet instructions. After using my head, a Barbie doll head, and other props, I had to conclude that I'm just not a turban-wrapper. Yet. I worked out a solution from The Artful Bird. It won't come unwrapped, that's for sure.

...Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling

By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore...

Oh, but Lenore wasn't grave or stern! In fact, she was quite chatty as many a reader tends to be. As I was at the ironing board with the turban, Lenore whispered to me in her raven's croak that she was Poe's advisor as he wrote that particular poem and that she has lived many times in ages past; she understands human nature well from long observation. As she reminded me: Oh, no man knows / Through what wild centuries / Roves back the rose

...the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain...

Lenore was a delight to create, and I was visited by crows at the start and at the end of her creation. She is now happily settled into her new home with someone who particularly appreciates "The Raven," tarot cards and turbans, and all is well!


Quotes from "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe

Rose quote from "All That's Past" by Walter de la Mare