Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Reflections Fall 2009


Five Hundred Million Years Ago

There is a pale sun on this November day
And I am in the wood along Elk Creek
Watching crisp October glory
Descend in deciduous decay.

The ground is dark--almost sticky
It is a thin carbon skin
Dressing Ordovician limestone.

Not much is happening in the bed of Elk Creek
The water is barely stumbling
Over her flat stones and she is telling

That it has not rained in some time.
Yet the trail seems not to know
It is slippery underfoot and in places
Hides beneath a coat of moss.

I go gently up that green trail
Through the softening litter of oaks.
Also there--I find the moldering
Children of the hedge apple

Still clinging to mother tree are one or two
But most are on the ground—going pale.
They are such characters these lumpy orbs
And they form a magic circle--calling for me to step inside.

I am caught now—in the web of looking
There is little to hear
Just the persistent cry of a bird I do not know.

I want the perfect one
Large and well formed without undercuts.
These hedge apples--I think they are my friends
I call them brother fruit

I mean to tell them
That they--are a magnificent ruin.

Jean Ann Bolliger 2009

Friday, December 4, 2009

The Last Hedge Apple of 2009


Hear ye! Hear ye! I am now out of number 1 pottery plaster for the fall of 2009 and I am not going to get any more until fall of 2010! Hence this post. (Yes there are 12 step programs available but I am not ready) I leave you with an image of my last hedge apple of 2009 and the half mold made from her.The mold is around 3.5 inches in diameter.