paper bowl and mourning pages

Two weeks ago, Mim brought paper clay to KJ's house where four bloggers and JB met to talk and have fun, and we all made paper bowls. I let mine air dry for a week or so, then painted it. The inside might need another coat as I see a few white spots.

I've been working on my mourning pages in my unbound sketchbook and have finished them. I can always go in and add more details though. For now I am glad to have these pages finished. They were hard to do emotionally. But I think it is good I did them.

The first page with a poem by Emily Dickinson. "In this short life/That only lasts an hour/How much-how little-is/Within our power." I did another page with one of Dickinson's poems too.

For my sister-in-law. She loved blue and hummingbirds.

Miss Emily and other cats who have died.

A poem by Kay Ryan.

Things Shouldn't be so Hard

A life should leave
deep tracks:
ruts where she
went out and back
to get the mail
or move the hose
around the yard;
where she used to
stand before the sink,
a worn-out place,
beneath her hand
the china knobs
rubbed down to
white pastilles;
the switch she
used to feel for
in the dark
almost erased.
Her things should
keep her marks.
The passage
of a life should show,
it should abrade.
And when life stops,
a certain space---
however small----
should be left scarred
by the grand and
damaging parade.
Things shouldn't
be so hard.

by Kay Ryan

My next sketchbook section will be: Taking Action or What would Pippi Do? I look forward to this theme.