Grief: Can Art and Zen Be Antidote? The Relentless Patience of Penelope

Running through water-deep halls to reach a dancing Ulysses. For Tina Bottazzo

I’m taking a page out of the Stoic book: don’t let your passions overwhelm you. Therefore, despite being an emotional mess of a human being on a daily basis, I’ll try and take you along a short epic in the most mindful way that I can.

Welcome.

How long would you wait for your long-gone lover? How long would it take for you to believe they’d never come back?

As me and my partner work through a partner visa that would (will!) allow her to stay in Oz, I merge in my mind questions about my life (what if we are parted?), art, myth, and of course, Tina, my Penelope.

Tired, an eternally young woman loses track of her flow. She is weaving her pain with hope. Where could Ulysses be, after all? How long can the carnage last? And as for the sea, weren’t the Gods on his side?

She waits, but she is exhausted, and inquisitive. After all, suitors are growing restless and resolute, and there’s only so many years a woman can pretend to weave without being found out or growing tired.