Pantihose and the Pope

This might look like a typical page from someone's photo scrapbook, but look closer. It is about an incident that occurred back in the 1980s. My two roommates and I were robbed; tied up and held at gunpoint for hours in our apartment in New York. Fortunately none of us were hurt physically, although one still has a scar on her leg from struggling unsuccessfully to get untied.

The poem tells the story of the robbery. Poetry may not be my main talent, but it was a good way to express what happened. I used an old piece of pantihose to edge the piece because the robbers tied and gagged us with my pantihose. I chose a brown background because we were face down in a brown shag rug (came with the apartment...definitely not my taste.) It was the same night that the Pope was shot, and it was really, really weird to be tied up on the floor while the robbers made themselves comfy and watched the news on TV until they felt that the 'coast was clear.'

The intruders were trying to rob what they thought was a drug dealer's apartment. They were either not too bright or misinformed, since my roommates were college students at FIT and I was a young, struggling career girl. Once they realized we really had nothing of value, they loosened my restraints, let themselves out the door, and I was able to get free and untie the other two.

This 8"x8" journal quilt was included, along with my 8"x8" journal quilt Broken Chakra Girl, in the book 1000 Artist Journal Pages that was published this past spring. (available on Amazon if anybody is interested...it is a really good book, and not just because the author chose to include my work.)