arts and crafts

yesterday i was home with a sore throat and an overall sensation that was threatening to become one of those flu-like illnesses that makes one's body ache all over so much that it's impossible to roll over without moaning. thankfully, with enough tylenol and water and rest, that didn't happen. anyway, since i was home alone, i decided that a fun thing to do would be to take out the clay that i purchased for myself a few weeks ago at the craft store. keeping in mind that my thoughts about being a sculptor are settled firmly in the realm of fantasy and that any attempts to play with clay could be only for the sake of doing something rather than nothing and this was something i could do without having to get off the couch- the real goal of the day. i took out the block of clay yesterday afternoon and by late last night, there was a tv tray in my living room that one could say is indistinguishable from the drying table any elementary school arts and crafts center. (assuming of course that any elementary schools still have them) it is pathetic. fun. but pathetic. my shabbily formed little creatures lie so helplessly and lifelessly on dusty ziploc bags...wishing for a way out but knowing that with each passing moment of exposure to the air, their fates are becoming that much more sealed. never will those particular molecules of clay have a chance at becoming something real or special or beautiful. just cracked, twisted, flat little objects with no real suggestion of inspiration. when i get home i will whisper to them that a 7-year-old made them. that should help a little.