Round

Every week I get a new self portrait of my daughter's rounding tummy, a self portrait taken in a mirror, as she progresses through her first pregnancy.

The tummy, without

giving away too much information, is

stretching outward ever so slowly, not unlike the way clay stretches as it makes its way toward a bowl shape--that lovely belly of a bowl is

created from the inside out, in a manner that is at once forceful, yet very careful, and it reminds me of how the world flexes

around

us,

if we

are

just

aware

and tender.

I think of round things a lot these days, maybe I always do, but with a grandchild (a girl!) on the way, it seems as if everything is round.

How many times has the wind been around the Earth?

How many tadpoles have erupted from frog eggs since frogs first existed?

How many eyes have opened and closed and opened and closed?

How many lifetimes have you been here, on this orb we call Earth?

Who made the first bowl?

Who picked the first flower and spun it around on its stem?

And who laughed out loud to see it?

Pottery photos by Karen Cummings

Thanks Karen!