“A doll’s ability to uplift the human spirit can be immeasurable” —Gayle Wray
Titan god
Purloins Zeus’s fire
Creates dolls
The reproduction of mankind is a great marvel and mystery. Had God consulted me in the matter, I should have advised him to continue the generation of the species by fashioning them out of clay —Martin Luther
Titan hands
Shape the river mud
Gaia’s gift
Clay can be dirt in the wrong hands, but clay can be art in the right hands —Lupita Nyong’o
Sacred slick
Pure as Acheron’s
Or Styx’s
There’s something really raw and exciting about grabbing a lump of clay and creating something unique out of it —Sara Cox
Archetypes
Prometheus doth
Configure
I love to create, and to me, the ultimate freedom of expression is a blank canvas or a block of clay to capture whatever emotions your imagination gives it —Daniel Boulud
Replicas
Wee Olympians
Mini gods
There is always shame in the creation of an expressive work, whether it’s a book or a clay pot. Every artist worries about how they will be seen by others through their work. When you create, you aspire to do justice to yourself, to remake yourself, and there is always the fear that you will expose the very thing that you hoped to transform —Rachel Cusk
In the blaze
Ripped off Zeus’s bolt
Faces glaze
Children have no fear of their dolls coming to life, they may even desire it —Sigmund Freud
Athena
Bellows goddess breath
Fans the flame
Clay is a very interesting and fundamental material: it’s earth, it’s water, and – with fire – it takes on form and life —Rithy Panh
Breath-imbued
Bisque of Grecian urns
Comes alive
I liked dolls as a child, but as an adult, I love them! They represent the good in all of us and display the diverse beauty of humankind —Gayle Wray
Enraged Zeus
Hot as filched lightning
Makes them pay
There are some famous people, and I’ve met them, who you might think are great, and then you meet them, and you discover that they not only have feet but heads of clay —Anne Beatts
No knockoff
Shall be more than clay
Should one stray
It’s hard being a Barbie doll all the time —Alice Ripley
One must stay
Pure as Gaia’s mud
Or Styx’s
It is an anxious, sometimes a dangerous thing to be a doll. Dolls cannot choose; they can only be chosen; they cannot ‘do’; they can only be done by ―Rumer Godden
Yet some may
In ways creative
Zeus seduce
There are many ways to be free. One of them is to transcend reality by imagination, as I try to do —Anais Nin
Fire and Breath reimagines the Greek myth of humanity’s creation and Zeus’s retribution. Thus, by the grace of the Muses, art transcends the clay.
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GODSLAUGH.ME 
If God had created us, not out of clay, but with Play-Doh, we’d all be born with that distinctive musky vanilla/cherry-like smell, and the first thing a mother would do when her baby arrived would be to hold it close to her nose and breathe in. Ahh, fresh baby!
That would be mythic! Thanks, George.
spooky – and I am reminded of one old doll I inherited from my mother when I was about 5, similar to the ones you show, cheeks not quite as puffy, with a knob on the crown of the head where you could turn her face from crying to smiling or vice versa. I remember a feeling like – creepy doll. (I did have a couple more modern ones). Can’t really relate to the quote you add.
Athena’s symbol, too, is the owl.
? who is she?
Greek goddess of wisdom, daughter of Zeus, breathed life into the clay, myths say. 🙂
After reading your wonderful post, CES, I think that my poems must be my paper dolls.
Once again, the artwork is stunning (though some were a bit disturbing, too), the quotes right on (I really liked the Rachel Cusk quote) and of course the poems were thought provoking. I always look forward to your posts.
Thank you very much for your thoughtful and perspicacious comments, LuAnne. Rachel Cusk’s observation is the fulcrum on which this creation myth was balanced. Btw, I think your poems are living dolls. .:)