Midnight sharks
I woke at midnight and went outside. It was raining, so I stayed beneath the thatched roof and sat on the stairs by the water. The lagoon was almost entirely dark, except beneath the bungalow next door, where a handful of jacks circled in a pool of artificial light. I watched them for a while. Surely, a shark must see these. Then a fin emerged from the darkness. And another. Two sharks slipped into the light, snagged a fish or two, and disappeared back into the night as quickly as they had...
Carlyn Porter · 0 views · 0 comments · 0 likes
The baroque is the counterpart to the perfectly round pearl
A monster strand of pearls may hold more resale value, but if this is an heirloom, why are we determined to only purchase things that maintain value? Value projections assume things stay the same. Yet they rarely do. Demand fluctuates, styles evolve, and trends change. The perfect strand of white pearls is no longer perfect. It becomes traditional, conservative, values-imbued. Its perfection is culturally constructed, maintained through repetition and expectation. The baroque is the...
Carlyn Porter · 0 views · 0 comments · 0 likes
The body has its own taxonomy
Then the humpbacks surface. I capture an absolutely stunning video. And feel almost nothing. Apparently these are not my spirit animals. Perhaps wonder is not universal. Perhaps we keep trying to rank experiences according to some imagined hierarchy of magnificence when the body has its own taxonomy. A whale may rise spectacularly from the Pacific and leave me untouched. A strand of irregular pearls can keep me awake until one in the morning thinking about labor, beauty, inheritance, and...
Carlyn Porter · 0 views · 0 comments · 0 likes
