The Studio Potter, Volume 11: In the Beginning Was Earthenware

Born of firmament and hairy stars, Terra firma was made terra cotta.

Before stoneware, porcelainware, rakuware, otisware,
Earthenware was history not temperature.
It was the common clay, Grammar of potters’ language.
Still, earthenware is terra incognita,
Known to exist yet unknown.
We have mislaid it for a moment.
Holy energy and shifting cultural winds now reform clay’s way.
The wheel moves on to born-again aesthetics.
So voyager, not farewell but fare forward.

No.2, June 1983