fanciful devices

A Stone Is Nobody's

A man ambushed a stone. Caught it.
Made it a prisoner.
Put it in a dark room and stood guard over it for the rest of his life.

His mother asked why.

He said, because it's held captive, because it is captured.

Look, the stone is asleep, she said, it does not know whether it's in a garden or not. Eternity and the stone
are mother and daughter; it is you who are getting old. The stone is only sleeping.

But I caught it, mother, it is mine by conquest, he said.

A stone is nobody's, not even its own. It is you who are conquered; you are minding the prisoner, which is yourself,
because you are afraid to go out, she said.

Yes yes, I am afraid, because you have never loved me, he said.

Which is true, because you have always been to me as the stone is to you, she said.

Russell Edson

FAQs

1. Are you a Southeast Asian dancing girl from the 1800s?

No, sorry to disappoint. My avatar and banner images are from an ancient book I found in the depths of my grandmother's cabinets. More on that here.

2. How do you make everything look so old?

First, you need a good oxidizer to brush on every bit of metal you can reach. I'll tell you all about it here.

Then there's this wax. I first mentioned it here. You'll have to scroll down a lot.

3. How can you be so productive?

I'm insanely obsessed and I have no offspring. I do nothing else- I don't have a day job, I don't clean my house or cook, I spend all day in pjs, often completely abandoning personal hygiene... I only interact with other humans when I walk my dog. And I like people! But I prefer dogs.

And I'm sloppy- but I make that sloppiness work for me.

4. Any tips you'd like to share?

No! Except for these 16 posts about techniques and this one about how to find your aesthetic.

5. Would you be offended if I took some inspiration from your designs?

Well, I'd be happier if you outright copied them.

No really, imitation is how we learn. I have enough ideas to go around. And even if I don't- please. No one's going to do this obsessively enough to threaten my business. (Probably.) I learned by copying others and I've seen others copy me as a step toward developing their own voice. So feel free. (I'd love if you tossed me a link in my comments, so I can feel like a proud momma.)

6. What do you look like?

Why, what have you heard? Really? Wow.

11/8/12

I have aunty jet-lag right now. It's what happens when you try to shift your sleep schedule to normal for 3 days. Got goodies coming up though. Here's three:

The best story from this weekend was when 3yrold Marcela mentioned something about God. To which 6yrold Carlos very sarcastically retorted, "Who doesn't even exist!"

His mom looked just as quizzical as I felt. We're all basically atheists in my family, but she's certainly not teaching it to these little ones, that's not the kind of thing you want them going on about at school. Especially now that Marcela's going to a -very good- Catholic school. "Carlos,"said my sister, "you can really upset people if you say that. They're teaching Marcela about God in school- which is great!"

"So then how did we get here?" asks a suddenly articulate Marcela. Carlos considers.

"Maybe a dinosaur was laying an egg and he laid a human by mistake. Then he laid all the humans."

...

A dinosaur. Laid. A human.

....

And then he laid all the humans.

So there you have a truncated version of human evolution by Carlos Rios Klaus, who is way too logical to believe in God.

A dinosaur. Laid. A human.

9 comments:

StaroftheEast said...: Some kids you got in the family, Marina! They are brilliant :)
And, yes, yeah for mr. Obama, the whole world is relieved!
And your creations are also brilliant, of course, but look out for too much scrapbooking :); 11/8/12, 1:11 PM
Beatnheart said...: lucky you to get to hang with the kiddies...and be with your family; 11/8/12, 2:31 PM
PipnMolly said...: Nice Obama pic. Joy and relief !
As to your question/comment: How do you have your ventilation set up? maybe I'd do some metal work if I had ventilation...
This blog-
http://pipnmolly.blogspot.com/2012/10/exhausted.html
May not suit your circumstance but that's what I did.; 11/8/12, 3:49 PM
Aimrr said...: Your story about your nephew reminded me of when my 8 year old daughter (she is 16 now) said, "How could anyone with half a brain believe in this God stuff?" She is raised by a Buddhist mother and athiest father who thought by not pushing any religion they were helping her freely decide for herself. Needless to say I had to have the same conversation with her about what to say and what not to say in school as not to upset people.

PS: I am a big fan of your blog and your work.; 11/8/12, 6:52 PM
Maggie Zee said...: Great new stuff, as always. If Carlos is right, then humans were a mistake from the beginning. Kinda makes sense.; 11/9/12, 4:26 AM
Anonymous said...: You are from a clan of atheists? But your post begins with a picture of your messiah(s). You have replaced god with a dictator. You follow the same morals that there are in the bible because they have now become mandatory under law. It is extremely unfortunate that wanting to rule and benefit ONE`S SELF is and always will be a fantasy.; 11/9/12, 3:30 PM
Unknown said...: Brilliant telling of the kids' version of events!

Can you imagine the expression on the dinosaurs face when she saw her mutant humanoid hatchling though. "What the actual F is this?!!!" Most unimpressed.

A friend of mine has written a whole entire novel about a planet of dragons. The humans are the aliens. The dragon-people are also a lot more sensible than the humans, and it's actually considered rather rude to call them "dragons" to their faces. I bet Carlos would like it in a couple of years' time :); 11/9/12, 3:46 PM
richelle said...: I'm trying to make sense of anon's sentiment, there.

Anyway, this is barely related to "dinosaurs laid a human," but it's immediately what came to mind and has always creeped me out and intrigued me on a deep level: the proposal of a 'dinosauroid,' that an upright-walking type of dinosaur (the trodon?) evolved into a humanoid form. The supposed projections of its form are super creepy and not entirely incompatible with common descriptions of 'aliens.'; 11/9/12, 4:23 PM
Skye said...: Oh that 'dinosaur laid a human' needs to inspire someone... if you can't use it, give that one to Anvil and let her find some miniatures to make one of her scenes for it LOL; 11/9/12, 5:38 PM