A brief homage to a throwaway I witnessed. Something I saw set outside my apartment, awaiting trash pick-up on the curb for some time. A big white pouf.
The creature from “Nope.”
An egg containing truth about the universe.
Someone’s former resting / reading nook.
A bad design idea and worse purchasing decision.
Over many days my dog and I visited and sniffed it:
Like the aspiring death doula that I am, I was honored to hold space for it in its final days - not knowing which one, ultimately, would be the last. Every day the pouf remained was a miniature pleasant surprise.
Witnessing it in the now: sniffed at, peed on, gawked at, loved from afar.
Imagining it in the before: so white! so large! what comfort! what impracticality! who would buy such a thing?
Wondering about it into the future / ether: sitting entombed in the mausoleum of a landfill, or sogged into nothingness by rain or waves, or returned into the vast unknown of the universe, or reborn as another pouf in another time.
Each day the same and yet new, sometimes with an added item of trash-friend.
Then one day, *poof* the pouf was gone.
As a New Yorker, I’ve loved looking at lots of trash set out on the street. That flash of a moment: do you take it? Do you leave it and hope it’s there another day? Do you hope someone else takes it? I still recall a Pink Himalayan Sea Salt lamp I didn’t take.
Once while visiting a friend in San Francisco, I encountered a perfectly good game of Deluxe Scrabble on the curb. It had an extra-large board that rotated and had grooves so your tiles didn’t slide — a horrible risk with regular scrabble when your knee inevitably knocked the table. Although we were *just* setting out on a full day of walking through the Tenderloin, Mission Hill, Golden Gate Park, etc. I did choose to nab it. It was incredibly bulky and annoying to carry all day but I did it. I fashioned a duct tape handle on the box and carried it home on the plane now. I think I soon gave it away / set it out on the curb again. Sometimes (all the time) we’re just a pass-through.
You know flotsam and jetsam?
While flotsam is defined as debris in the water accidentally thrown overboard, often due to a shipwreck or accident, jetsam is debris that was deliberately thrown overboard, usually by a crew in distress to lighten the ship's load.
Depends on how soon we realize what’s happening: are we preventing a shipwreck or are we shipwrecked already? Vastly different intentions lead to the same outcome.
In “The Little Mermaid,” Flotsam and Jetsam are horribly creepy moray eels, Ursula the octo-sea-witch’s minions, who finish each other’s raspy sentences in unison. They have one white and one yellow eye which, when combined, form a crystal ball — a portal for Ursula to see her plan unfolding. You can barely tell them apart. They are the discarded; they have nothing further to lose.
Emily Dickinson on truth and beauty— (1862)
Connect with me
Take a yoga class with me at Love Yoga Space in Venice or the Santa Monica YMCA, or set up a 1:1 yoga or meditation session.
Work with me to cultivate and elevate your voice through narrative coaching or a higher-touch approach that integrates mindfulness with high-caliber strategic communications coaching + leadership development.
Work with me as a bardo doula, holding space for you as you navigate an expected or unexpected transition.
More about my work.
Love the photos! And I've always wondered the difference between flotsam and jetsam...I enjoy the tidbits of information you nest into your writings.
This is beautiful, thank you❤️