Splay: the action of unbraiding a knot or cord and spreading it out, often in a different dimension. Remarkably, this energy remains a form of the plait or braid that it has unravelled. Rather than being a knot’s negation, it is an invitation to enter further into it. What can be plaited, in other words, can be dis-plaited, or displayed, without losing mystery.

The splayed twigs of a spring elm.