VIEW FROM A CAGE by Colette Hosmer, Sculptor

From my position on the worn, overstuffed chair, I can see outside the window and through the bars of my second story balcony to a wall of similar Chinese apartments beyond the narrow alleyway.  A neighbor across the way has an identical balcony, only the rusted bars of her confine support a few potted plants and the door to their kitchen is flanked by two red Spring Festival banners with gold letters – another banner is pasted horizontally across the top.  A caged bird flutter-jumps from perch to the top the cage to perch to bottom and back again.

The woman of the house is slight, middle aged and gentle looking – neatly bobbed hair frames her round, expressionless face.  Sometimes I see her sweeping the balcony floor or watering her two plants, while the husband watches television at a deafening volume.  A small window reveals images shouting from the screen in 1 to 2 second intervals. It is always on, and he is always sitting in front of it, his presence exposed by clouds of cigarette smoke during the day and the glowing tips of cigarettes in the night.

I look up from my book as the woman appears on her deck. I begin to pay attention as she reaches for the cage. Leaning forward in my chair, I see her slide her hand through the tiny door.  In one quick movement her hand appears outside the bars of her own cage, and I watch as the bird catches flight.

A lovely smile animates her face as she puts her hands together and bows in the direction of the freed bird.

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The author of this beautiful story is Colette Hosmer, my friend, a sculptor, and a contributor to TellTale Souls’ “Mother Memoirs,” with her bio-vignette, entitled “My Mother’s Wash.”  I love this View From a Cage story written on her travels through China, where she is often an honored guest sculptor.

And I loved the quaint image of the laundry strung across the balcony by the gentle Chinese lady in the picture above.  I realize it was probably out of necessity that she dry her family’s clothes in this fashion, but it also struck me funny, as I immediately saw it another light. In Colette’s story in my book, she relates how her North Dakota mother took the art of line-drying laundry to another level with her sun-dried whites, even though she had a clothes dryer.

The sun works it’s magic for mothers the world over, whether out of necessity or not, and mothers work their magic on us from one culture to the next, with very similar spirits they are birds of a feather.

Thank you, Colette, for being TellTale Souls’ first guest blogger. Please follow this link to Colettehosmer.com. As I promised my readers in my first blog, I’ll bring you blogs and interviews from a wide range of artists, this is just the beginning.

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