i (heart) odd-toed ungulates

Tapir Redux

Got a little kick out of addressing this envelope to the "Hooves and Carnivore Team" at the Twycross Zoo in England (winners of my Paper Tapir Challenge). If I weren't working diligently in a one-woman art dept, I'd definitely want a desk next to those fine folks...

For My Mother

This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready

   to break my heart

     as the sun rises,

       as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers

and they open--
  pools of lace,
    white and pink--
      and all day the black ants climb over them,

boring their deep and mysterious holes
   into the curls,
     craving the sweet sap,
       taking it away

to their dark, underground cities--
  and all day
    under the shifty wind,
      as in a dance to the great wedding,

the flowers bend their bright bodies,
  and tip their fragrance to the air,

     and rise,
      their red stems holding



all that dampness and recklessness
   gladly and lightly,
     and there it is again--
       beauty the brave, the exemplary,



blazing open.

~ Mary Oliver, excerpt 'Peonies'
 

Primates for the Postman

It's been mail art central over here this week. Not all envelopes are being scanned and archived for posterity (one of the joys of the "you have 2 hours before the post office closes" game is accepting that a lot will go unfinished...). These wee fellows (Lemur catta) came out quite alright, however - lucky little buggers! Perhaps they've benefitted from my recent Ring-tailed kick... must be those cheeky tails... but wait, there's more!

Special Delivery

I'm a big fan of mail art - nothing says happy day like coming home to find a personalized envelope waiting in the mailbox. Call me crazy, but I also love the concept of creating something that will be "enhanced" by the environment I send it off into. The USPS may not be often credited with enhancing anything it gets it's grubby paws on, but all the nicks and scrapes, stickers and stamps, water damage and bootprints that befall those utility bills and boxes of cookies from grandma are a wonder to me when they become part of a randomly generated composition. I'm lucky if I get to see the final product (since I've never sent anything to myself!) but when I do, I'm rarely dissapointed - so it was with giddy surprise this week when I got a lovely update on one very special delivery...

The extraordinary Jean Aw - powerhouse behind the NOTCOT empire - just became the proud recipient of a member of the mail art menagerie. She was also kind enough to give me an exceedingly generous post on the subject, which you can check out here. Many thanks, NOTCOT - for the Tropical Forest love, and the reveal on how my Takin fared on her epic cross-country journey in a mailbag!

From You Have I Been Absent

From you have I been absent in the spring,
When proud-pied April, dress'd in all his trim,
Hath put a spirit of youth in everything,
That heavy Saturn laugh'd and leap'd with him.
Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odour and in hue,
Could make me any summer's story tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew,
Nor did I wonder at the Lily's white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the Rose;
They were but sweet, but figures of delight,
Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.
Yet seem'd it Winter still, and, you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play.

~William Shakespeare, Sonnet XIII
 

I Wanted to Write You a Letter, My Love

I wanted to write you a letter

my love,

a letter that would be brought to you by the passing wind

a letter that the cashews and coffee trees

the hyenas and buffaloes

the alligators and grayling

could understand

so that if the wind should lose it on the way

the beasts and plants

with pity for our sharp suffering

from song to song

lament to lament

gabble to gabble

would bring you pure and hot

the burning words

the sorrowful words of the letter

I wanted to write to you my love…
I wanted to write you a letter…

~ Antonio Jacinto, excerpt 'Letter from a Contract Worker'
 

Valentine

Because my hartebeest for you, Valentine... you know who you are. xo