Adam's Rib II

You have told me all my life

How to think and how to be

That what I am is not good enough

That I need to be more like you

And keep my mouth shut if I don’t agree

You are still doing it I notice

In another guise

Although you are all dressed up

I can see through you.

Ink drawing on Japanese paper

Dream Tide

I came to the end of the city and there was the sea

The sea where it shouldn’t have been.

I started walking down the slope of sand towards it.

When I looked up, the tide was coming in from where I had just been walking.

I was walking towards the sea, yet it was behind me

And rushing down the slope to sweep me away.

I saw a large rocky outcrop of brown sandstone.

I could run under that and hope that the water would pour over the top

Keeping me safe underneath.

What a mad, hopeless idea if it was a real sea!

But dream seas are unpredictable that way.

watercolour drawing

To my daughter

My advice to you, dear daughter

is to press your feet firmly into the ground

Feel the earth between your toes

The dirt and grit and stuff of life

Feel it in your body

It is full weight moving upwards

Then lift your chin and face what is in front of you

Stare it unflinchingly in the eye

And give it what for

indian ink on paper

indian ink on paper

Jacob and the Angel

A little East of Jordan,
Evangelists record,
A Gymnast and an Angel
Did wrestle long and hard —

Till morning touching mountain —
And Jacob, waxing strong,
The Angel begged permission
To Breakfast — to return —

Not so, said cunning Jacob!
"I will not let thee go
Except thou bless me" — Stranger!
The which acceded to —

Light swung the silver fleeces
"Peniel" Hills beyond,
And the bewildered Gymnast
Found he had worsted God!

A little East of Jordan by Emily Dickinson

Feather Pelvis, ink on Japanese paper

Feather Pelvis, ink on Japanese paper

Pelvis

The tendon is damaged, torn from the bone, it needs time and stillness to heal. The surface is without feeling but there is a deep ache in the bone. It was a small thing that caused it, holding tight to anxiety, clutching fears closely, afraid to let go. The sadness comes in dreams, gently and you are there, quietly being you. You worried in life but in dreams you are more reassuring, as if just your presence is enough.

Skirt, ink on Japanese paper

Skirt, ink on Japanese paper

Digging up a mandrake

…the most famous myth about the mandrake is that “the shrieks of an uprooted mandrake would kill anyone who hears it”.

This superstitious belief was widely adopted in the Middle Ages, when traditional herbalists were considered to be witches associated with Hecate Goddess of Magic and Witchcraft, who is often illustrated as a black dog. This may explain the origin of the suggested practice for extracting the mandrake safely - dig into the ground to expose the roots, draw three circles around the plant with a sword and tie a rope around a starved black dog and the mandrake; throw fresh meat to the dog, which will run towards it and pull the mandrake from the ground…

from The Love Potion by Tavian Hunter, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

ink on paper

ink on paper

Belladonna II

In 16th-century Italy, women applied eye drops prepared from deadly nightshade because it dilated the pupil, which was thought to make them look beautiful. Atropine eye drops are still used by ophthalmologists when they dilate a patient’s pupils to get a good view of the retina during an eye exam.

Ink on paper

Ink on paper