At the beginning of the summer holidays a friend and I agreed to share some of our creativity and use it to inspire each other - I was really excited by this, as I love what she does.
There were a couple of sneaky peeks at the piece of felt I gave her
here.
Just before I went on holiday I received her wonderful work....and here it is, accompanied by a full view of the random wooliness:
The Return
Foamy surf, the blue-green ebb and flow of life on earth,
The never-ending motion of the pull against
The yellow sky, not a sunset, almost ominous,
Sulphurous, a backdrop for shadows.
A lumbering bulk, clumsy on land, hulking
Against the sandy vastness.
A silent, indistinct almost formless something,
Moving into the rhythm of sea.
At last, in the smooth depths, dugong-like,
Strange grace from great weight; waves lift and caress,
Silver threads weaving in and out of cerulean space,
Bubbles rising to the surface.
Finally, sunset comes, the shepherd’s sky,
A promise of good, and on the shore,
A perfect footprint, as big, as deep as a turtle’s laying nest,
Not formless, not indistinct.
I love Karen's poem, I have read it many times and find new depths.
The most amazing aspect of the collaboration has been how the image has been interpreted.
After I had read and commented on her poem Karen shared some of her thought processes.
The piece of felt had been made with the sand at the bottom and I had intended the dark form as a footprint...but Karen had looked at it the other way up and revealed a shadowy figure....how fantastic!
After my initial reading of the poem I realised this, but found it hard to see 'him' and a tryptich came to mind..(Picture of a figure with yellow sky and sea below; watery scene with smoothly swimming whale form and bubbles; and the existing image as a footprint on the sand)
However as I re-read the words and gazed at the picture the figure lumbered into view ...
I could see 'him'! I felt quite emotional!
So I have used the same image both ways up to accompany the poem, I hope you can see him too!
I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Karen and she has sent me some more of her amazing writing.
I hope to make something in response to some of her powerful work and I have an idea for another piece of wooliness to prompt some more creative writing....
Thank you Karen...may this be the first of many creative collaborations!
