A poem that was written especially for The Great Frog by writer, activist, musician, producer, and co-founder of Pathway to Paris, Jesse Paris Smith for World Poetry Day, about the alchemy of jewellery making and metals.
Frog Metal (Verdigris)
The alchemical bliss that shifts and changes
within the magical revolution of this circular band
easing round and round to celebrate the human hand
the human face
the human form
the human experience
joined we are by existence today
lunar wanderers of earth’s revolverie
and though the metals melt like lava
they are formed into a story told.
The process is like music
with planning and preciseness,
intuition and energy
captured like a capsule of time
into a tangible shape
the sound of scoring the molten ideas
the steps of evolution from ether to ore
from formlessness
to paper drawn
from liquid to solid form
and leaving the hands of the creator
to join a new hand
where a new story begins
the journey of a gem
of a rock
a metal band
it has no real beginning
and no foreseeable end
for materials
live forever in one form or another
and long before the idea took shape
in the mind of the fabricator
the mind existed still
and the alloy was waiting somewhere
to be shaped and formed into this
sculpted expression
for the amulet is a beating heart
and
rubies
emeralds
sapphires
can be watchful
and reassuring eyes
their potent magic and power
idle stones
alive with life
and the element of pure metal
malleable and strong
falling like leaves from a golden sky
silver strands within shadowed hair
reminding us that while life is fleeting
in its cursory moments
we are protected by the earth and its heavens
and we can always rise above
Jesse Paris Smith, 2021
