Empty vessels 2 May 2020

A sighing rushing wind all day with clouds like commas. A variety of vessels waiting to be filled, with incense or food, water or wine.  What you find in any archaeological site in the Mediterranean, or even a terraced hill or field, is fragments of ceramic, potsherds in teeming abundance, from every kind of container: cups, jugs, mixing jars, sieves, cooking pots, stemmed wine bowls, great storage vessels, amphorae, perfume vessels, oil bottles, water pots, plates, small dishes and great basins, sometimes baths, all made from fired clay. Even when broken it does not decay. All these containers were all made from clay, all signify relationships, people handing things to one another, eating together, loading stores or serving at table. Once with an archaeologist in Crete we walked on a rainy winter day along a road outside Knossos, and he stooped and picked out a curved fragment of white pottery revealed by the rain, rubbed it with his thumb and handed it to me, saying "Middle Minoan 2B". There was a sprig of leaves, in pale red.  Waiting and emptiness is alright. A different moment will come.

Diana Wood Conroy 'Empty vessels' watercolour on Arches paper, 15 x 21 cm, 2 May 2020.