Day 11

Yesterday, I wrote about going to a pottery workshop as something outside my comfort zone, and that’s this week’s No-Comfort-Zone “self-assignment”.  AND I thought that might be something neat to write about for my 11th stone.  The piece is not fired yet, the instructor will do that, but she did let me make a second one (a funky-looking cat with a ball on plate) and I took home more clay to attempt a third piece.  I have never been much good at working with my hands (other than cooking, which is not the same!) so I am very pleased that this was a lot of fun.  Here is my stone:

Claywork

finicky fingers hate
to be sticky.
cautious, they hesitate
to work the clay.

but the brick is cool
and moist, waiting
to be poked and prodded,
pounded and flattened.

hands, suddenly eager, begin
to mold pieces into a plate
to hold penguins as they cuddle
and cluster in one corner

do they fear the kiln’s fire
or are they just a little
too far from home?

Carol A. Stephen
January 11, 2012