Ledi

By Kim Trainor

Ledi, the second book by Vancouver-based poet Kim Trainor, describes the excavation of an Iron Age Pazyryk woman from her ice-bound grave in the steppes of Siberia. Along with the woman's carefully preserved body, with its blue tattoos of leopards and griffins, grave goods were also discovered--rosehips and wild garlic, translucent vessels carved from horn, snow-white felt stockings and coriander seeds for burning at death. The archaeologist who discovered her, Natalya Polosmak, called her 'Ledi'--'the Lady'--and it was speculated that she may have held a ceremonial position such as story teller or shaman within her tribe.

Trainor uses this burial site to undertake the emotional excavation of the death of a former lover by suicide. This book-length poem presents a compelling story in the form of an archaeologist's notebook, a collage of journal entries, spare lyric poems, inventories, and images. As the poem relates the discovery of Ledi's gravesite, the narrator attempts simultaneously to reconstruct her own past relationship and the body of her lover.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bookhug Press
• Release date: Oct 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781771664486

Book preview

Cover.jpg

LEDI

kim trainor

book*hug 2018

first edition

Copyright © 2018 by Kim Trainor

all rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

The production of this book was made possible through the generous assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. Book*hug also acknowledges the support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Ontario Book Fund.

Book*hug acknowledges the land on which it operates. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Trainor, Kim, 1970-, author

Ledi / Kim Trainor. -- First edition.

Poems.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-77166-447-9 (softcover).

ISBN 978-1-77166-448-6 (HTML).

ISBN 978-1-77166-449-3 (PDF)

ISBN 978-1-77166-450-9 (Kindle)

I. Title.

PS8639.R355L43 2018 C811’.6 C2018-904267-2

C2018-904268-0

printed in canada

In the crook of the Lady's knee was a red cloth case containing a small hand mirror of polished metal with a deer carved into its wooden back. Beads wound around her wrist, and more tattoos decorated her wrist and thumb. She was tall, about five feet six. She had doubtless been a good rider, and the horses in the grave were her own. As we worked, the fabric gradually revived around