After finishing photographing all my prints, I've moved to the next phase- sorting and inventory. It's an interesting process to revisit my work. I find that some images repeat. They evolve, but some same core structure is there. This is true of tonight's print. Several years ago I made a similar series. At first I was bothered, but realized this image is a key to unlocking certain feelings in me, in this case peace. Some of the images that come through are an expression of my feelings and some, probably most, are a message, a transfer of energy and they change me. I needed this image tonight and definitely am more at peace since making it. Although some pieces are more successful than others as works of art, they all play a roll in my own growth and healing. When I see an image has evolved, I take heart. Progress is being made even if it hasn't yet shown up outside my work. This brings me a great deal of peace, knowing I've found my place and my work is progressing.
Wild Geese
By Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
xo