Blue Kitty

17.5 x 7.5 x 5.5 in

stoneware paperclay, underglazes, glazes

2024

private collection

We moved from the only house I ever knew

when I was in third grade.

I was eight-years-old.

There’s a grief in that.

One that is not really acknowledged by the people around you, who are all doing their best to get through the day.

with work and school

and their own disruptions

that swept them up, too.

People ask me all the time

What’s it like growing up in a big family?

(Usually asked by someone who has no siblings

or just one)

they always answer for me:

it must be fun,

you were never alone.

It’s not what you think.

Do you know the fable

about the blind men trying to describe an elephant?

Each has a hand on a different piece

imaging the whole by just touching a part

That was us.

Each with our own experience

of the much larger thing.

Nine people together

but still living all

Alone.