Horizon Of Now

7I9A1904

I am holding a bird
its eyes dim
where it lays in my hands
still warm
its feathers are the armor
that could not resist my hunger

I lift my gaze
the horizon is now
a rumple and tilt of
grass in the gloaming
my cold
numb
feet
carry me towards the thing that changes with each step I take
my dog
still eager
at my heels
sharp nosed and
trotting

I think I understand
the overlap
between then and now
and here
as I cross basalt rubble
rising over rugged stone against the wind
like knives
and the cruelty of time
lifting as the birds breast did
against the sun
and my fingertips

(the bird
the bird still warm
on my back
where I carry it close
as the night comes on)

I walk faster
to defeat the tension in my bones
my skin taut in the breeze
my eyes streaming
each step renewing
the horizon of now
that falls as far away
as ever

————————————————
I actually came up with this design last winter during uplanding season.  Robbie and I spent so much time out on the land together and I remember being obsessed with the way the land rises up in rippling humps of stone and grass, fading into the distance as it reaches out wider and wider against the glare of the sun, and the way that same growing and shrinking and fading was echoed in the feathers of the birds we hunted behind our dogs and shot for our dinner table and echoed again in the long spines of deer and elk, killed by winter, that I continuously found out there amidst the sage and bitter brush.

This necklace seems minimal in design but it represents something so complex and wild and steady…something I get to be a part of when I hunt and walk the land in Idaho.

Oh, I don’t know.
Heck if I can tell you what it’s really all about.
When you look at it, your eyes either embrace the texture and form and find it beautiful, or they don’t. I took the form, the crescendo and decrescendo of it, directly from nature, from the land, from my genuine life moments, from the birds that fed me, from the white bones of the winter kills stark against black rock, from the rhythms of a simple, wild life.

It is SO beautiful on. Elegant. Fierce. Otherworldly. It wears like a small shield against the chest — like feathered vertebra for all the world to witness. Gorgeous. 100% sterling silver on a beautiful chain. Satin finished and lightly burnished.

This is a piece of light.

Find it in the shop today at 4PM, PST…with 37 other bits and pieces of my journey.

Comments

  1. Oh dear… I waited on the 22nd at noon sharpd…and waited …and waited..I got everything out of the way so i can be pqrt of this….then it was the 25th I could not make it that day, could it be possible next time for you to leave your items even sold let’s say for a few hours…., so we can actually see them if we cannot make it in the 30 seconds window when you sell everything.
    It would be so nice to see your jewlery in your shop.
    I am super happy for you that you sold everything, you deserve it , it is so beautiful but selfishly I would like to see all your work.
    Your way of life and your work is fabulous. Have a great Autumn!!!!

    • Nathalie,
      I think this means that you are not aware that you can see all the sold items at the shop?
      Here’s the link (you can find it at the left side where it says ‘sales’, also)… https://www.etsy.com/shop/thenoisyplume/sold?page=1 and you can click through the pages with the numbers/arrows at the bottom. I love looking at all the pieces as well, and am glad that etsy does this, as many sites do not.

      Cindy

  2. Hello Jillian,
    So happy that every one of your cherished pieces were sold…I will just have to set my alarm clock so I can view them before they are whisked away:)
    I hope you will find the time now to just take some time for yourself, Robbie and the dogs.
    Sending much love,
    xox
    Dagmar

  3. Hello Cindy Hello Jillian,
    Thank you so much for this Cindy, no I didn’t know and I went and saw all the beautiful jewelery sold, I am very happy and very sorry Jillian but I didn’t know. I am so glad I learned this!!!,
    Thank you again and have both a wonderful weekend, nathalie

  4. beautiful poetry.
    just-as-beautiful image.

    x

  5. That poem … you transported me right there with you! Beautiful! And that piece of light – simply stunning! XX

  6. Jillian, a comment made by someone during fire season said, “The plume is a wonderful place to come to, isn’t it. Yes it is.” She was so right. I “come” to The Plume. It is indeed a place. A thought. A story. A naked way of life. Theory Stripped Down. Your pieces are stunning. Rugged, real. Stone and bone. I feel like I can breathe when I come to The Plume. I know we all thank you for this place. The bird that gave it’s life for you. Life given to someone who loves and appreciates it’s soul. Until my next visit, my doppelganger~ Lindy in Yelm, Washington~