Monday, April 5, 2010

Subversives


Dandelions are dangerous
Dandelions don’t need gardeners
Dandelions are artists
They ignore all the boundaries in the yard
Flower beds? They’re in them and they’re out of them
Wreaking their insomniac havoc all about.


The crafted and groomed watch jealously
From their straight rows and their well planned lives.
And they can see who is having the fun
Painting dada smiley faces on daVinci lawns


The other flowers are not stupid
Just stationary
And, sheltered as they are
They know who’s been around.
Growing zones?
Don’t make me laugh


The other flowers are not stupid
They just have the plastic left on their couches
They have their “Do Not Touch” signs
Displayed in their careful elegance


Meanwhile the children make chains with yellowed fingers
Meanwhile the children test to see if they like butter
And the crafted and groomed look on
And wish they’d come up with that simple idea first.


Dandelions are artists.
With their outrageous style
And a bright yellow Tina Turner hair-do
With outrageous opulence that doesn’t spare a Springtime acre
Subtlety be damned.


Dandelions are dangerous
Dandelions have no need for gardeners
Dandelions are artists.

8 comments:

  1. That is a wonderful poem! Did you write it? I am going to bookmark this page so I can refer back to it when I need it. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Thanks, guys.

    It's something I dreamed up while at the wheel, throwing repetitive pieces. You know how that is.

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  3. John... I had to come back to ask whether you had penned that one... I guess there's no need to ask though.
    I wanted to add that your poem has been bouncing through my head since I read it a few days ago, that's a rare thing for me.
    Fantastic!
    Time to do something yellow!

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  4. Thanks 'Ghost!

    Make something yellow. Great idea! Here's my favorite yellow glaze...

    Ken Ferguson's Yellow

    Custer Feldspar 50
    EPK 24
    Dolomite 16
    Whiting 10
    Zircopax 4or5
    Bone Ash (trical) 8
    Red Iron Oxide (precipitate) 1

    Hydrometer at 45 and fire to cone 9 -- hold at cone nine for an hour.

    I noticed the snakeskin glaze combination you came up with last month. You can put that Ferguson glaze over many gloss (like tenmoku) glazes and get a similar effect.

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  5. Looks like I'm mix'n a new batch of glaze tonight!
    I'm setting up a cone 10 reduction fire at the end of the month to augment my usual cone 6 electric work... what atmosphere and cone do you suggest that Ken's yellow should fired to?

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  6. Ken's glaze is amazingly versatile and forgiving for a matte glaze. If you fire such that it takes an hour for a cone to drop completely (that's how I count 'em), then you can fire this glaze from cone 9 (where it will appear closest to an actual yellow if it is dipped at about a 40-45 on the hydrometer), to a flat cone ten (where it will just start to move a bit).

    Since you are like me and like using slip under glaze, you will find another wonderful thing about Ken's glaze -- is quite translucent. At a medium 10 and a 40 hydometer setting, colors of slips will come through with a radiance you won't believe.

    If the firing is too fast (I will admit here), the glaze can be as flat as paint.

    My total firing time is 11-12 hours -- again, I try to only hurry the kiln at the stages that don't make any difference.

    I reduce a bit (flame back pressure evident at the burner ports) for an hour at cone 010. Then I merely maintain a blue/green flame reduction the rest of the way to temperature.

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  7. Love the Dandelion poem! Great stuff!
    Corey

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