When I was five, my sister Lorraine slammed
my right hand in the bathroom door, causing
most of my little finger to sever, save for
a thin slip of skin. I was wearing a green dress
which tied in back, and it was untied.
I remember a single shoe, but that might
be invented after many repeated recalls
of the incident. And then there was the
examining table at Renton Hospital, my mother
and father beside me. That's the extent
of the memory. The little finger on my right
hand sticks slightly out, and the joint tends
to get stuck when bending, but it's good
to still have an entire finger.
Karsten, a 23-year-old glass artist who
puts in a few days a week slogging glass
at the same place of employment as me,
said today that he suffered a fractured skull
at the tender age of eight days: he fell off
a clothes dryer. His mother was so completely
traumatized by this event that she lost all
her pregnancy-weight in a matter of days.
I'm way behind in my blog reading but just wanted to tell you how lovely your new header painting is. I saw a show of the paper cutout botanical art of Mary Delany - 1700-1788 - recently and your picture reminds me of them - the precise outlines on a plain ground and the attention to the details of the plant. At the same time yours is almost Japanese in its elegance. Really beautiful. A picture like that doesn't need to listen to questions about what painting is for.
ReplyDeleteHey! We do NOT slog glass. Karsten painstakingly and delicately carves it in a delicate chamber, then, in a pristine environment, carefully removes the masks and surgically cleans the errant molecules from the surface before passing the pieces on to the next steps.All to the accompaniment of chamber music in his iPod. Right T? Right?
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how we have bounced back from childhood accidents. At age 11, I was knocked off a bike and smashed my new permanent teeth. Nearly succumbing to concussion, I was rescued by a neighbour who witnessed the incident and took me home to my parents. Three root canals later...
ReplyDeleteMairi -- such a thoughtful comment. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMelinda, you forgot to mention the bonbons.
Poetikt, after having raised two boys, I'm amazed that the earth's population is so large! How in hell do so many of us survive??!!!