Sphinxed

I have started a new sculpting as I muse upon some of the books I've read/listened to, am-reading. I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice (Austen) on Librivox, then started Emma - but the first bit made me fall asleep; I have sort of finished Behave (Sapolsky), but struggled to focus a bit as well. So did The Small Rain (L'Engle) fail me. Luckily, there is Dark State (Stross) to look forward to, and I have started Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny (Kate Manne; "sexism is scientific (patriarchal ideology that justifies and rationalizes social order), misogyny moralistic (the system that polices and enforces its governing norms and expectations"), which is excellent thus far. To add to that, I've procured Women and Power (Beard) and also Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong - and the New Research That's Rewriting the Story (Saini). Also on Archive.org: The Good Earth (Buck), good.

Squat Pose

I have become disused to the feel of it:
the slick wetness and grit,
the messiness of clay.
I keep wanting to wash my hands;
'have bent the soft wire frame,
stuck it into the pink polystyrene block,
tore paper strips and wrapped it, somewhat.
Is this the right order?
When will the process flow again?
This is physical finger digital
slow
-lest one be accused of precipitousness-
I have to stop a while;
wash my hands,
now with clay half-moons under the nails.
I wrap the damp cloth around the clay stump-
the severed limb of a golem.

Based on a moth I saw in Caicos. I could not identify it, but think it might have been a Titan sphinx. (update: no, it's rather Aellopos clavipes; it only has three white spots on each wing! Discovered via BugGuide's comments.) Alas, I couldn't find as useful an app as Merlin Bird ID, (which id'd my Ruddy Turnstone quite readily, even from a sketch) for moths. Influenced by what I'm reading...there's the sphinx's puzzle.

I've bought a few new watercolour cubes, clay and some brushes and paper - always fun. The clay was frozen rock hard when it was delivered; I feared it might be for the worse, but its texture is fine and creamy, now that it's defrosted.