Childlike Enthusiasm

by

Nora Naranjo-Morse

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It is not sophisticated technique or exact skill

but childlike enthusiasm,
timeless concentration
and pure devotion that feed this clay to life for me.

Knowing this as my hands work slower than my desire to create,
feeling this on frigid winter mornings when clay spirits are

cold and so am I.

Laughing in J. C. Penney's when I notice there is still clay

stubbornly stuck under my fingernails,
as I pass a free manicure display.

Dreaming up new shapes and stories for brown

earth and me, as I secretly call myself
Mud Woman.

Indulging in limitless, creative possibilities.
How lucky I am to know this clay.

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From Mud Woman, Poems from the Clay, University of Arizona Press
© 1992 Nora Naranjo-Morse

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