"unsolved, but not insoluble questions of humanity"
May your day contain the seeds of freedom.
May you find a treasure to hold in your hands.
May pleasure uncurl like a fern.
The Fishing Tackle by Bertolt Brecht
In my room, on the whitewashed wall Hangs a short bamboo stick bound with cord With an iron hook designed To snag fishing nets from the water. The stick Came from a second-hand store downtown. My son Gave it to me for my birthday. It is worn. In salt water the hook’s rust has eaten through the binding. These traces of use and of work Lend great dignity to the stick. I like to think that this fishing-tackle Was left behind by those Japanese fisherman Whom they have now driven from the West Coast into camps As suspect aliens; that it came into my hands To keep me in mind of so many Unsolved but not insoluble Questions of humanity.
(trans. Lee Baxendall)
American Maiden-hair Fern Fronds, Karl Blossfeldt, 1928
Creative Invitation
1
If you could dissolve one of humanity’s unsolved problems, which would it be? How would it look or sound when dissolving?
2
Curl your body like a fern frond and slowly uncurl. Tell yourself I love you.