20 March 2020. Wanderer and Mask.
Well, it's me, at least in some sense, on one of the night walks on Solano. A great pleasure--I'm hoping they continue unabated. Or at least unregulated. (Other than 6 feet of distance--which actually adds an element of mysterious self-awareness.) On the right, my Teva's and socks--the outdoor pair, well-worn. And the socks--from REI, with their white REI letters too prominent, always staring back at me, so I turn them inside out to diffuse the effect.
The staff goes way back. I think I first started drawing them in the Analects. Something B once said about the powerful effect of two parallel lines. One of her astute observations--like paying attention to the expressive line of the mouth--the line between the lips. One remembers these things...
There's more, though--through my own associatios with the branch--as in the branch of Jesse. Also comes with a powerful meaning, but this from scripture--the weight of the transmission--that we sense and value it...
Like the three sparrows just now, all together in the terracotta tray there outside under the plum tree. Two of them splashing and happy. The third poised on the rim, watching, ready to join in...
The mask--also from way back. I almost hesitate to put words on it. These things being powerful, too. Maybe the etching I made at Reed, from reading Paradise Lost. A gnarled imaged of God sitting there on his throne--I made things slightly grotesque in those days. (Why?) And the other figures--Adam and Eve, no doubt. But Lucifer? Was he there too?
The source just now was a Hungarian folk image--thinking of the new neighbors down the block, John and Csilla. I knew her name was Hungarian--but she's been here since she was a young child. Their little boy, Almos, in temporary protective headgear. The three of them--parents side by side, the child on the steps alongside, there together on their porch. As things should be...
So natural--but in all the years I don't think I'd ever seen anyone standing there before...
