BEAUTY: Ceramics--Godeleine de Rosamel

The sweet, whimsical ceramic work of Godeleine de Rosamel is enchanting. I love how her figures are unidentifiable mash-ups of animals and humans and nature spirits. I love even more that she has pieces of driftwood perched on their heads. At first I took these for stylized horns, but the more I saw of her figures, I wondered about that assumption.

http://www.gderosamel.com/

de Rosamel's lumbering, lovable animals remind me of a poem I wrote many years ago.

Dense Beasts

I know of a place
that’s much darker,
where I can hear them
talking to each other
from the forest.
I crouch by the trees
and listen to them
jabber.
I can hear their
innocence
in the noises they make.
I can hear it
in their chirping,
in their grunting,
in their sigh
and the beasts
from the forest say,
“It’s OK.
We know what’s wrong.”

Through the trees
I see their wide button eyes
shining in the dark.
I can feel
their warm fur.
I hear them breathing
and chattering,
they don’t mean harm.
Sitting on branches,
sleeping in dirt,
the beasts say,
“It’s OK.
We know what’s going on.
We’ll stay here.”

©JEF 1983