SoCS Jan 21./17

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday and Just Jot It January is: “glass.” Use the word “glass,” or find something that’s made of it and use that in your post. Have fun!

As a physical thing, a non-crystalline amorphous solid thing, glass fascinates me. When I had discretionary income, I parted with quite a bit of it by purchasing various types of glass. I love the heavy, sensuous feel of my perfectly balanced Tyrone cut crystal rummer in my hand. The importance of that glass makes sipping the whiskey a religious necessity, to swig would be sacrilege. A recently unpacked Swarovski porcupine chotchke now sits on my desk at work, and on the few days when we’ve had actual sunshine, its confetti of tiny rainbows splashes the room. I’ve spent many sweltering hours watching artisans create one of a kind pieces. I’m so pleased that my treasures from Bay Area artists have still managed to survive the billion moves across the continent. Chilhuly exceeded my means. There’s so much that draws me to this material, the innate dichotomy of strength and fragility, the way it plays with light, the tactile sensations…

I’m also drawn to the analogies and metaphors of glass. For my entire life I have felt “other” and separated. In grade school my favorite song was “I am a Rock.” In various poems, diary entries, short stories and scribblings I have made the association of social isolation and emotional deprivation with being separated from the object of desire by a wall of glass. I can see out (or in, depending upon my circumstance). I can see others. I can reach out. I can never make a direct connection. That was the thought when I was creating the virtual photograph of my mermaid avatar (below), which I titled “Wrong side of the glass.” I was blasting Gorecki throughout the shoot. I also like taking pictures having to do with windows, which is why I post on Monday Window. Whether the photos are from the real or virtual world, most of the time my window images are lonely, sparse, bare, melancholy… cuz I’m fun like that. I don’t always set out to create that type of image, but it is often what decides to reveal itself.

This is one of my favorites.