Weeping Willow

Weeping Willow is both a tree outside Alexander Gideon’s window and a name that takes shape in his correspondence with Ilana Sommo. As the image moves between description, affectionate address, and signature, it gives their strained exchange a small shared language: Ilana’s concern for Alexander’s health meets his wry resistance to her poetic portrayal of him.

The Tree at Alexander’s Window

In a letter to Alexander, Ilana says that the weeping willow and the grey sky at his window have begun to disturb her. The tree is part of her appeal for the whole truth about his health: the ordinary view outside his room has become inseparable from her unease about his condition.

Alexander’s reply confirms the tree as a concrete feature of the scene. He notes that Ilana had described it in her letter and proposes it as an alternative to the snow, empty glass, and empty bottle in her poetic repertoire. The willow therefore does not replace concern with mere decoration; it gives that concern a particular image, one Alexander can acknowledge while gently disputing how Ilana uses it.

An Image Turned into an Address

Alexander answers Ilana’s concern with teasing resistance. He says that, despite his operations, he is still on the map, and contrasts her imagined props with the pen and spectacles on his desk. His response makes the willow part of a playful argument about how she writes him: he accepts the image but asks her to use black and white with restraint rather than her customary overexuberance.

The correspondence then turns the tree’s name into a form of address. Ilana signs herself Weeping Willow, and Alexander opens a later letter to her as Dear Weeping Willow. The phrase thus belongs to neither correspondent alone: it is an image Ilana first attaches to the view at Alexander’s window, then adopts as a signature, which Alexander returns as a greeting.

Intimacy Within an Unresolved Exchange

The name’s tenderness remains entangled with their conflict. Alexander’s playful greeting comes in a letter dated 28 June 1976, after his return from London and lectures in Holland and Sweden; he has received Ilana’s long letter, forwarded by Manfred Zakheim. He recalls its vivid language of juices and jungles before turning to her question about why he divorced her. The affectionate address does not settle that question or erase their history. Instead, the willow marks a renewed channel of communication in which concern, irony, and unresolved personal claims continue to coexist.