SAPLING #48 — Growing gills
A while back, Jurgen and I were interviewed for a podcast called Zwemmen Met Schrijvers (Swimming With Writers). In this series, the interviewer takes an author swimming, and the interview is done in the swimming pool! Needless to say our Graphic Poem STROOM was a match made in heaven. We had a very beautiful conversation about swimming, going under and surrendering to the stream of life, regardless of the surprises it might have in store for you…
The interview was scheduled to go online around this full moon. So for Sapling #48, we decided to return to a STREAM image. It’s both a prequel and a sequel, the moment right before the cover scene, but an independent tableau in its own right, completely in tune with the atmosphere of this extraordinary January moon: Wolf Moon, Blood Moon, Super Moon, lunar eclipse… A Sapling to warm you in the cold dark days, and a whole new beginning, when it turns out that the old paths have met dead ends.
Enjoy.
SAPLING #48 — Growing gills
When the path ends, it’s time to take off your shoes.
For what is a path but a defined certainty, a guarantee that you are, in fact, going somewhere?
You pull your laces taut, and set off at a stiff pace. Your shoes are a bit tight, but that doesn’t matter. What matters, is the story in your head, telling you you have a goal.
You don’t really know what it is. Preferably something clearly marked on the map, like a mountain top, or the purpose of life. But at times, a mere shelter might do. An inn along the way, to have a drink.
Stories are pretty enough, but they always end. And inevitably the time comes when any trodden path meets a dead end.
Deep inside, you always knew. You can squeeze a foot into a tight shoe for quite some time, but you can never keep it there.
Deep inside, something else is whispering to you, something gentle and wild that doesn’t abide with neatly trimmed paths, solid borders and laces pulled tight. It feels freaky. It feels free.
When the path ends, it is time to take off your shoes. And grow gills.
The SAPLING series is a joint project with artist and illustrator Jurgen Walschot.
Saplings are creative sprouts. I will write to the images, he will draw to the words.
