"I move / to keep things whole"

How is your power arranged & rearranged?

Happy Mardi Gras! Joyeux Carnaval! May you be full of ceremony, inspiration and regalia. And may dictators never again give speeches on a magical day of masks.

Female Figure, Inyai-Ewa people, Melanesia, 16th–19th century

---

from Collected Poems by Mark Strand (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize) (Alfred A. Knopf, 2016)

---

Creative Invitation

1) “I move / to keep things whole,” Mark Strand writes. Consider movement in your life. Why do you move? What happens as a result of your moving?

2) Imagine that in the afterlife, you wear a ring around your head, a ceremonial headdress. It announces your presence and helps those who see you understand your purpose. What is the ring made of?

Mine may be teacups, berries and fountain pens. Another one is dangling cat whiskers, cut crystals, oil pastels and sealed small jars of water.

What might you wear in a ring around your head as you walk through the world?

Headdress, Sumerian, ca. 2600–2500 BCE