Puddles
A full growing up—
the exploration of nature,
my body in nature,
imagination, emotions.
The childlike acts
of a child in the world—
Dancing, Leaping,
Enacting, Joy—
in my adult body
seem foreign.
True expression:
fierceness, opinions
even happiness
seem dampened, lifeless.
Sing—I want to sing!
Scream with Glee!
Release my sensations
into the world.
Adult—be damned!
I am a child
waiting to explode
I am a spirit
yearning to be free.
I am free.
What holds me back
is not a stiff body
but a controlling mind.
I take off my hat,
dance in the rain.
Now, where
are those puddles?
©Sherrie Lovler
January 6, 2010
ABOUT THE POEM
We are still in Stage 2 of Bill Plotkin’s Eight Stages of Eco-Soulcentric Human Development: Middle Childhood, The Explorer in the Garden. The task at hand is discovering the natural world. The gift of this stage is Wonder.
“To be in nature is to be a body in nature,” from page 134 of Nature and the Human Soul.
Here I take off and feel my childlike ways, comparing them to my adult ways of being. But in the end, the child wins. Yes! I want to play in the puddles!
ABOUT THE PAINTING
This painting, created on the same day as the previous two, has a childlike feeling. The background marbling is puddle-like in its effect. The calligraphic lines make for a playful design. The poem was written first, and then I “held” the poem in my thoughts as I painted.
ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE
The tool for the black strokes is a piece of wood veneer handmade into a pen. The background has some sink art. It is a method of putting ink on paper and while the ink is still wet, running water over it and rinsing off the ink. The ink sticks to the parts of the paper that are dry, forming the marbelizing effect. To emphasize the “O” shape, I use black Conté crayon. 8x6 inches