Two of these things were once instruments of flight, but they will not be flying anymore unless the wind picks them up and carries them. The little palm tree had designs of growing skyward until I reluctantly killed it. I realized as I titled the post that grounded is a two-edged word. To be grounded is to have no altitude, to be flightless. To be grounded is to be practical, realistic, and steady. And then there was the punishment, when we broke rules; we were hobbled, but with good intentions.
So interesting Barbara. Your images and words are very thought provoking. I am trying to see how they help me unlock a poem I wrote many years ago entitled Broken.
ReplyDelete"I reluctantly killed it." - I like this phrase.
"And then there was the punishment, when we broke rules; we were hobbled, but with good intentions" - this is a little curious to me.
If you can explain it further at this time, please do. If not I'll understand
These are great pictures.. abstracts if one squints at them.
ReplyDeleteInteresting about the meanings of grounded.
Alice: My parents grounded me once or twice for going to places/events they expressly told me I couldn't go to. I grounded my sons infrequently for similar reasons. Being grounded meant being confined to the house except for school or other approved places. No fun, no adventure. A pretty benign but largely pointless punishment I think. I was pondering whether that kind of grounded was yet another meaning, but I concluded it was about the same as when, for instance, a pilot is told he can't fly. And then it occured to me that the parental intention, at least ideally, was probably to make the child more reliable, so that interpretation applied as well.
ReplyDeleteThank you Barbara! I was thinking of an angel stripped of its wings or perhaps when Adam and Eve were punished and Adam was told by GOD "Cursed is the ground because of you: through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." GENESIS 3:17-19 NIV
ReplyDeleteMen have been grounded from the very beginning.
Women received a different curse... perhaps this is why so many people envision angels as women with wings.
Wow, Alice. That's a much deeper and poetic interpretation. I wish I had intended it, and it certainly works. Thank you. My explanation is pretty pedestrian.
ReplyDelete"Grounding" helps us realize how special (and what an honor) "flight" is. I'm the mother of six, and this was an interesting thought for the day. Thank you.
ReplyDelete