"How to Throw a Pot" by Yoni Hammer-Kossoy, Frequent Contributor & Poet of the Week

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to formally introduce a new Frequent Contributor to the readership, Yoni Hammer-Kossoy, whose poetry will be featured this week.  Yoni's biography may be found on the "Our Staff" page. 

How to Throw a Pot

Yoni Hammer-Kossoy

The wheel sings between your knees

at two hundred forty spins a minute 

which means your off-center throws 

will be useless from the start.

Take solace as these almost pots 

gallop in your hands

that after wiring away another flop 

you can easily try again.

Weeks later, when your least spectacular failure 

is finally glazed and fired

be sure to spare a smile 

for what may never stand straight

but at long last holds water

and glints as it catches the morning sun.

Poet’s Notes:  One summer a long time ago, in what feels like a galaxy far, far away, I took a ceramics class. And was certifiably terrible at it. But that didn’t stop me from trying and trying some more, which I suppose is how any creative process works, in that it almost never ends up with something perfect, but with any luck leads to all sorts of beautiful discoveries along the way.

Editor’s Note:  I like this one, particularly as both of my children are ceramic artists and I, like Yoni, am a ceramic artist wannabe.  The act of creating through ceramics, literally molding bits of the earth, is an interesting and thought-provoking metaphor for creation and creating in general.