Friday, December 04, 2009

No Interchange



When this crow  lived
It glided...  free...
High up over my head


When this bird had breath
I could not reach it...
I could not stroke its shantung wings


Now...  in this state
I can hold it in the palm of my hand...

Now where is the reason in that?






...I found this beautiful raven skull in the woods on our sandstone bluff when we were building our home... 1999... it is sitting on a trilobite fossil-filled piece of slate from the Canadian Shield  near Guelph, Ont. retrieved by my fossil-hunting brother when a student there...
...to see that the Beak is  part of the actual skull was enlightening to me... 

27 comments:

Teri and her Stylish Adventure Cats said...

How wonderful...artifacts full of stories and I liked your verse about it, too.

Alina said...

Lovely find and lovely verse xx

Seth said...

Interesting concept to ponder!

Arija said...

Assuredly, there is reason in all things. It is not easy to fathom when most of us have no idea what our own purpose is.

Great find Gwen.

ArtPropelled said...

Food for thought. I feel that when you hold something like a crow skull in your hands you get a feeling of the crows essence. Everything you know about crows flashes through your mind. It's a privelege to hold that "crowness" in your hand. Am I making any sense at all? ...lol

Guillaume said...

Great skull.

Gwen Buchanan said...

oh yes Robyn, assuredly, I do feel that very much so...with all the skulls I have collected... I wish I was Dr. Doolittle some times.. oh well most of the time..

I wish I could touch them when they are alive and we could think and feel back and forth with each other and communicate for real... we could cause each others reactions in a more intimate way... instead of from a distance in feet and yards or time... it frustrates me knowing I can never change that fact... I'm sure most people feel this way...

It is an invisible Wall...

***

Arija I think our purpose is to make things better for each other so to enjoy our time on this marvelled planet.. if we could converse with everything... how great could that be?... I just can not understand after all these years of Evolution it has not happened... Puzzling.......

***

Thank you everyone for pondering the beauty framework of my beloved crow...

cathyswatercolors said...

Hi Gwen, beautiful post. Interesting what we collect. Funny some people would have poked this with a stick or walked by it. Your display is really honorable.
My dad and my uncle used to go on digs in the western U.S. and in Mexico, they found many treasures to be sure.

William Evertson said...

I"m in love with your verse :)

sandy said...

I agree with Bill, love your poem.

Also enjoyed photos of your Christmas show.

Debbi said...

I love the poem and the photograph. Over time you are going to reveal your skull collection, aren't you!
I am feeling dense, however. I don't get "No Interchange". Must be the years and the vino.

Gwen Buchanan said...

Thank you, Shicat, Yes I guess I collect things that many people wouldn't.. when John met me many years ago, he thought I was a Witch..

***

Thanks Bill, I just had to do something that wasn't Christmasy...

***

Hi Sandy my dear, good to get back in touch with you...

***
Hi Debbi, You can see a few of my other skulls real and painted by going down my sidebar to my INDEX and clicking on "skulls"......when I use interchange I am referring to:
- mutual interaction
- interacting
- social or verbal interchange

...I have been varnishing my concrete floor for the last 2 days ... and "vino" would be very good right about now... although the varnish-fumes are enough to make me dizzy... but the floor looks soooo much better...
...oh and I do have quite a few more skulls not posted yet... one is from a little mouse... it is soo cute.

Owen said...

How lucky it hadn't been trampled, such a fragile treasure, like an egg shell. And to think that blood flowed in it to bear oxygen to the bird brain within, for who knows how many years, they can live quite old I believe, oxygen to the mind of a raven to help it navigate and feed and playfully seek a mate to breed...

A lovely find indeed, such secrets can be found in the woods if one seeks carefully...

Jasmine said...

It is warming to see i honoured with such beauty and dignity. I have a special bond with Raven, they are beautiful, mysterious...

I'm having a log give away, you are very welcome to enter x

pRiyA said...

Gwen, i couldn't stop thinking about the verse you wrote. What I'd give to hold a live bird in my hand...

Anonymous said...

Interesting indeed that the beak is part of the skull. Good image.

Ruth said...

I was taken by that too, the bone that is part of the beak shape.

Whenever I see a skull here at the farm I think of you, Gwen. Your words remind me of Audobon, who had to shoot birds to study them and render them. That has always made me sad, yet his illustrations are a treasure that informs us.

Your mind is a thing of lush beauty, housed in a skull too! But balanced with your heart. Thankfully, we can be touched by you here.

Shayla said...

What an amazing find and an interesting point of view. I do wonder what goes on in an animal's mind. What does it feel like to be a crow?

Chris Daly said...

What a interesting treasure and unexpected find. I love to explore the inner workings of nature.

Gwen Buchanan said...

Owen, man with the Gift of Golden Words...
everyone should check out his Writing!!!

Jasmine,They totally fascinate me... and thank you for the offer...

Priya, how many years do you think it will take for them to trust us??

Sheri, I had previously thought it was something that would have easily snapped off... so that brings me to realize when a woodpecker pecks that force goes through its entire skull...

Ruth, I have a CD dedicated to crows that has a line "where do crows go to die?... do they lie down under a tree... do they fall from the sky"

...so delicate and so strong all at the same time... where are all their little bodies?

shayla, yes to have that bird's eye view all the time... to flit over a mountain in a minute that would take us a day or more to climb...

Chris we have so much to learn from nature... outside and away from our computers...

mansuetude said...

hello,

you do touch them,
we have de-evolved... but the subtlty is still there, in your heart, your desire.

I never loved a bone, but the flight, the voice, the soul within it still sings in our breath.

Blessings.

and one of these for the new year!

!

Gwen Buchanan said...

Mansuetude, Oh I must not have de-evolved enough..
I still want to sink my hands into their feathers till I touch their warm flesh and feel their little heart thumping... feel the base of their feathers where the skin is all bumpy... something thrilling about that, and hold them close without them being frightened... maybe I should just practice on a chicken.. I do love chickens but it is sort of like drinking a glass of water when you really wanted wine...

ArtSparker said...

There's an alchemist's cave in that eye socket.

Gwen Buchanan said...

oh what an eye you have Artsparker...

rivergardenstudio said...

Such intricate beauty here... so amazing really... roxanne

layers said...

I have a strong affinity to bird skulls for some time now and I do have a collection myself-- some given to me, some found, and some the 'hard' way.. I love the words and will copy them and add them to my collection of poetry and so on about crows, ravens and birds..
thank you
donna

Gwen Buchanan said...

roxanne , the mysteries that are hidden beneath the surface of things... waiting for us to discover.


Thank you, Layers, when the beauty of a skull is discovered it is hard not to want to know others.. the similarities and the minute differences... and always the delicacy...