"I'm blinking off old eyelids"
Art: Mirror-bearer, wood, Maya artist(s), 410–650 CE, Open Access
Shedding Skin
by Haryette Mullen
Pulling out of the old scarred skin
(old rough thing I don't need now
I strip off
slip out of
leave behind)
I slough off deadscales
flick skinflakes to the ground
Shedding toughness
peeling layers down
to vulnerable stuff
And I'm blinking off old eyelids
for a new way of seeing
By the rock I rub against
I'm going to be tender again
from Trimmings, Tender Button Press, 1991
Creative Invitation
Old rough things you don’t need now, cast them off! Throw them beyond! Rub against a rock to shred and slough them!
1) What are they?
2) Draw or write yourself shedding a skin, emerging, watching the old skin fall.
3) What protection do you need for your tender new skin?
I flew to New Orleans yesterday where my mom is in the hospital after falling from where she had climbed to reach something at her ten foot ceiling height. I’m rubbing against the rock of human frailty and how fragile we are. I shed the desire not to ask for help!
I am shedding professional ambition and to protect the new tender skin I need art, connection, and play 🫶🏻