How it all comes together

My latest piece developed over about 3 days.  Here's a glimpse into how the process often works for me:

This piece started out as a character sketch with phrases describing physical characteristics and contrasts.

Steel toed, light-footed

Fists quick to curl, eyes quick to smile

Somnolent fury

Corduroy voice still face quick to pounce

Even a coiled spring must rest or lose its velocity

Sharp wit, quiet grit

I like threes.  It resonates with me in a musical sense – harmonic thirds, in a logical way – the 3 topics of the classic 5 paragraph essay, and in an emotional sense - the movement of a waltz. That led me to questions about why the contrasts/conflicts existed.

Are you weary of your own gravitational force?

Is your bravado just a veneer/lacquer over papier mache?

Is your solace the cat who sleeps upon your chest?

I started to develop the gravitational idea:

Weight of measured words, foreign bodies in random orbit

Then phrases started to group together, and a form emerged:

 

 

Steel toed dancer

pumps up the volume.

Fists are quick to curl, yet eyes quick to smile.

Is your bravado just a veneer over papier mache?

Careful craft,

weight of measured words,

celestial bodies gather in random orbit.

Do you weary of your own gravitational force?

Corduroy voice,

masks a somnalent fury.

A coiled spring must rest or lose its velocity.

Is your solace the cat who sleeps upon your chest?

Then a title… Between a Rock and a Hard Roll