
ICAD 2023, day 8: cryku




I’ve been a fan of Anne Meara since she and Jerry Stiller were on the Ed Sullivan Show as Stiller & Meara. My favorite performance of hers was in the 1980 version of FAME. Fun fact: she won a Writers Guild award.

egg
i intend today to throw
most of an egg on a potter’s wheel
and then sculpt a hummingbird
when the almost-egg is leather hard
I intend to cut its base at a bias
to give it a jaunty axial tilt
then perch the hummingbird
at its apex
absurdly out of scale
with the huge egg
it is valiantly attempting
to incubate
it may show how heroic
motherhood is
or how ridiculous
life is
the egg may have cutouts
to give it a windowed interior
or embossing
to give it a muralesque exterior
it is impossible to say yet
sometimes we just have to see
what happens
when it hatches




fyb
first you burst
from the pudendal starting gate
or were pulled into the world
by modified salad tongs
or you were sprung from amniotic limbo
via incision and extraction
(“hey, rock! watch me pull a rabbit
out of my hat!” “again?!”)
or even
as urban legend has it
you were launched by a mom
about to be t-boned by a mac truck
through the window of the doomed car
onto the soft grass
on the side of the road.
it was your birth.
you came from the there of maybe and hope
into the here of the sensate.
you have Now-What?ed your way
through a most improbable journey.
and now you have the grace and leisure
to read a few words about beginnings
from a friend.
thank you for ending up here
and now
with me,
my friend.
that’s all
but only for now.

their knight threatens but
my pawn buffers and my queen
stands ready to pounce

Here are two of my recent bird sculptures. One is glazed, one unglazed, and I may leave the unglazed one as is because it is nicely ghostlike in contrast to its mate. If my diabolical plans come to fruition, they will be worth at least $1000 US each in less than two years. But I’d be glad to sell the both of them TODAY ONLY for a grand total of $100.00 plus shipping (free delivery in the Phoenix, AZ area, though). Any interested party may either leave a comment on this post or e-mail me at onewithclay@hotmail.com. Deadline is midnight Mountain Standard Time today, May 29, 2023. Support the Arts, Friends!!