chair no. 14 Sasha Dugdale (bio) part 1 cut thin strips of wood,beech, from the arboreous cathedralsthat glow like fire in the heart of the continentAustro-Hungary, Germany, the Russian Empiredry cathedrals, crackling with beechnuts underfootrust cathedrals, whistling in autumn under a snow skycut the strips along the grain, boil them in vats of gluelayer them, strip to strip, one against the nextuntil they make a new thingnot wood, but the sum of its parts,wood, but not behaving like wood. a joiner handles the timberhand-bends it over the metal strapfeels it bend in his hands over the metal strapsupporting its tension facelaying it gently in place.he is skilled in this intimate workbend too far and the wood will splitnot far enough and the delicate curveof its pramhandled back won’t meetthe ring of its raffia waist. his child is light, he lifts it high toinspect it part 2 so light this chairthis child of chairsstacking into towerswhen the café tiles are swabbed [End Page 67] makes that canteen scrapethat machine-breaking squealas the burghers of Europe draw themselvescloser to the table,one hand between their legs or two hands gripping the ring at their sides lowering themselves anxiously, somethinguntrustworthy beneath them, light as an umbrella,a veneered walking cane, a child’s hoopholding them up. Their pleated backsidestheir flattening thighs make craters of raffia this little frame, a matchgirl’s bonesbetween them and the floor here you are sir, your strudel and creammadame, your torte a thin student sipping at coffeea liveried servant carrying boxesa governess writing her postcardsa girl clutching a chairback and smilinga boy looks up and sees her there and she’s falling falling a thousand silent bentwood chairswitness-chairs, disposable-chairstheir brittle bones upturned on barricadestheir old-world curls barely distinguishablein the morning rubble. [End Page 68] Sasha Dugdale Sasha Dugdale has published four collections of poems with Carcanet, most recently Joy (2017), a PBS Choice. The title poem won the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem in 2016. She is a Russian translator and is currently working on translations of the Russian poet Maria Stepanova, to be published by Bloodaxe and New Directions in 2020. She is former editor of Modern Poetry in Translation and poet-in-residence at St. John’s College, Cambridge (2018–2020). note Chair No. 14 was the first mass-produced piece of furniture in Europe. Made in the Thonet factory using the revolutionary bentwood technique, it was pretty ubiquitous by the end of the nineteenth century. Copyright © 2020 Middlebury College Publications