a murano paperweight sits on my desk next to my i-mac--a gift from dawn's trip to italy last november. it is a bouquet of tiny flowers frozen. captured in solid ice. crowded in a red coral circle like a compass from the bottom of the sea, this is a reminder of the depths. i can hold it in my hand. it's smooth and cool and a call to all that is remote and magical and needing to be cherished. i want to touch the surreal flowers. uncurl their tight blue and pearl petals. i want to be the merboy who'll go to their roots. who'll find the medicine waiting in their little tendrils, who'll bring the healing balm back to the surface. to the air. to the breathing place.
