This painting refers to the alphabet quilt in my novel A Silent Woman or Being mad myself...
It is the story of a woman haunted by voices;
voices that say she's mad, or she's lost her memory, or that she's only pretending;
voices that read to her, or talk about her as if she were deaf.
Among the voices she hears is that of Maisie who endlessly recites the ABC from the alphabet quilt in the hope that this will stir her mother's memory.
Being mad myself,
how on earth can I explain
my madness to the hoards of sane?
Thinking I am mad,
they do not listen to my words;
they do not even hear my voice....