Poetry & Prose
Words gathered from the quiet edge of the wood
A living notebook of poems and short stories, each one keeping company with an animal totem and the archetype it carries. Read slowly. The symbols reward attention.
Totem: elephant
Uncle Earl
Uncle Earl has big boss energy, he represents wisdom, taking calculated risks, and stopping to smell the roses in life. This has to do with transformation, being gentle with yourself when times are rough, taking moments to balance your energy out, taking reflective moments, taking time to relax, to contemplate, (like when a person drinks hot tea, you have to sip it), we are almost forced to slow down and settled down for a moment, this allows fresh thoughts to
come in. The blue flowers in his background are replicated as the platform that the sculpture stands on, the flowers are butterfly pea flowers, these symbolize femininity and fertility, also synchronizing masculine and feminine energies within oneself. The monarch butterflies symbolize seizing opportunities as they make themselves available and not waiting too long as success often favors the prepared, also transformation, maturation, and taking responsibility for one’s actions. Uncle Earl has a lot of light, free flowing things around him, as represented by the flowers and butterflies, while the dice is linear, solid, masculine, exact, methodical, firm, variable, his tusks have a bulkiness to them, and his face resembles a walrus, this imagery represents material gain, money, longevity, generational wealth. His gold ring on this tusk represents softness, glamour, prosperity, richness, ease, compound interest, luxury, and old money.
Dreamy Wooden Thoughts
acrylic on canvas, 24X30″
This piece features three elephants, one on top of the other in a totem pole sort of formation, it is a family unit—two parents and their child, it symbolizes support, ideas, sharing, and community. The middle section of the background is a tree trunk, the bubbles of shapes hovering in the air around the elephants are replicas of their ears, these symbolize thoughts and the ability to pick things up from the air.
Elephants are very sensitive and able to receive signals from the air and from the ground through their feet. When we are firmly planted we feel good in our body, we are stable– like the elephant, it is a sign of security, having a firm foundation, being self-assured, confident, safe, content, a feeling of belonging, we can make sound decisions, this is about trusting yourself, and when there are times when we are on “shaky ground” we can recognize and realize that at times it may not feel like it but that we have support around us, whether that support is family, friend, stranger or spiritual in nature, it is vital for our wellbeing. Having our heads on the clouds, the mud, the sand, this is about getting clear and knowing that these different phase and stages of our awareness are totally human and normal, the thing is to not to get stuck in one place for too long and to have in our awareness that there are other states of mind that we can occupy. Some of these mental states are voluntary and others are places we might find ourselves due to trauma and all sorts of worldly situations. One of the keys to shifting from a place of fogginess and confusion is to get out into some fresh air, you will be able to think much more clearly and will likely come up with some new ideas to navigate your way through whatever obstacles that you’re facing.
The Totem Canvas 