This is an ink drawing on elephant dung paper of Libbs and her three chickens and me making rosewater. I love drawing with ink and old bendy nibs on elephant dung paper. It is impossible to assume control and each hand made sheet is so individual and subtly beautiful it feels almost superfluous to draw on even though it asks to be touched. Most of all - it makes me laugh at the silliness of taking one's small self oh so seriously whilst next to the noble elephant and its dung. Far too much seriousness lately. As quick as can do and without thinking...
crazy legs
wispy arms
caverns are always dark
turtle eggs
frost that harms
icicles stick up and bark
soups hot
butter's cold
lettuce wilted
now I'm old
surprise surprise
it's a party day
tomorrow will also go away
creatures get comfort
the sky is bold
i am blue when i am cold
resurgence is dignified
lying sucks
i am broke without any bucks
lottie is fat
jack is mean
percy's a poet
a bean can be green
this is silly
no it's not
what is silly
is to sit and rot
the world is crazy
maybe it's alway been
when the way of the world
is the way of men
if you go to the store
with an unkept look
the clerks will follow you
like you are a crook
if you have no money
and struggle to pay
you will forget to look
at the sky each day
if you don't laugh
and forget to play
a miserable life
will come your way
when will you laugh
at the people who snoop
in other's business
because theirs is poop
if you obsess over
liars and cheats
you'll end up bitter
they'll get all the sweets
meditate on the divine
burn incense and precious oils
say this is mine
leave the trashy to their spoils
stay free of the critic
and wary of the leach
be they idiot or psychic
they do well in speech
tell the universe
you are stuck, uninspired
you've lost your purse
in the sludge you are mired
know this is temporary
there's no ghost to give
talk to a fairy
wake up and live
it is better to try
and end with a mess
than to sit and to cry
over somebody else's mess. basically.
it is now late in the day
and early in the evening
what's better than a play
to set the bells ringing
ring ring ring ring
take a trolley to the park
ding dang dung ding
sing a song in the dark
the end
and now to click on the 'publish' button and don't look at this till tomorrow. But wait, here's a link (which must be copied and pasted) to the Thai Elephant Conservation Center. Click on the 'Process' tab at the top to see how elephant paper is made:
http://www.elephantdungpaper.com/fact.html
....
