ODE TO
A PIECE OF CARDBOARD:
or, A Philosophy of Life
What's a piece of cardboard?
It's the base of a sculpture, or an
integral part of one.
It's the support for an assemblage;
A cardboard loom for weaving.
It has form, or it is flat.
It's a surface to work on--
To build a mask; to rest a tray as
plaster is poured;
To keep work safe, as it is moved from place to place.
It's a support for the paper on which notes
are taken at a museum, on which observations
are drawn.
Skin it. See the corrugation.
Use it for line or texture in a collage.
Cut it with scissors.
Roll it.
Attach it.
Tape it. Glue it.
Build with it.
What more is it?
That is up to you.
You may make discoveries as yet unknown.
I am not the possessor of all knowledge,
all ideas.
I can be the source from which you can get help
to develop your own ideas, your
individuality, your uniqueness.
If I can, I will provide the materials that will
help you make your discoveries, to suggest
alternate possibilities if I can't.
When you need it, I hope it is on hand.
All of my knowledge is available to you--
all of my expertise.
I hope that these experiences will help
you to use things frugally, with originality;
That sometimes when you are sparked
with an idea
You remember and are aware of potentials
and alternatives.
Pass a pebble, a rock, a shell, a leaf--
A new and different shape (real or in your mind)
Look at it. Touch it. Turn it over.
Return it to its home if you wish,
Or, let it send your mind and fingers flying
in a drawing or a painting.
Use it in a collage.
What's a feather, a piece of cloth, a strange
shape, a can of nails, a box of scrap wood?
That's up to you, my dear friend. . .
Up to you to collage your life a rich and vibrant one.
(c) 1977, 2012 Sheila Bakely Finkelstein
