Such a good article and so v v interesting ... I'm doing research into the language of the placenta - umbilical tongue-ing, that sort of thing (an oddness) ... Darwin's finds overlap (for me) in their eerie weirdness; his descriptions and doggered-ness have always inspired me. His language is so fresh; the imagination can travel with that alone. But he is not just reporting facts; he is shaping relationships to these wonders. Anyway really appreciate your work. It serendipitously arrived on my feed today, from https://substack.com/@meaningunfolds ... ps. My work is through processing somewhat speculative ...metabolic mediums as language frames, then New Materialists, Feminist Posthuman, Phenomenological lens, that sort of thing
I read this in one sitting. It’s hypnotic. I love the wonder it holds!
I especially loved the last section. The transition from the polyp’s “real genealogical tree”, three generations stuck in one body, to the diagram folding out of the Origin, and then that closing line, "life itself shapeshifting". Time is woven into what a living thing is.
It reminded me of Caspar Henderson’s The Book of Barely Imagined Beings – maybe because I see a similar appetite for creatures that won’t sit still in our language and categories. He retells Borges’s A Bao A Qu, which lives at the foot of a tower and only comes into being when someone climbs it. Its color deepens, and its light brightens step by step but if the climber turns back it hangs there “as if paralyzed, its body incomplete.” Henderson’s interpretation is that unless we enlarge our imaginations to take account of other forms of being, we miss our main task. A body that can’t complete itself alone - it belongs among your polyps :)
Thank you so much, that means a great deal to me. I love the A Bao A Qu connection. Strange bodies have so much to tell us, and biology can be every bit as rich as literature. There are many more curious creatures waiting in Darwin :)
Thank you for introducing me to these beings! they’ve been genuinely inspiring. I agree that biology can be as rich as literature. Looking forward to the rest of the curious creatures.
Such a good article and so v v interesting ... I'm doing research into the language of the placenta - umbilical tongue-ing, that sort of thing (an oddness) ... Darwin's finds overlap (for me) in their eerie weirdness; his descriptions and doggered-ness have always inspired me. His language is so fresh; the imagination can travel with that alone. But he is not just reporting facts; he is shaping relationships to these wonders. Anyway really appreciate your work. It serendipitously arrived on my feed today, from https://substack.com/@meaningunfolds ... ps. My work is through processing somewhat speculative ...metabolic mediums as language frames, then New Materialists, Feminist Posthuman, Phenomenological lens, that sort of thing
I read this in one sitting. It’s hypnotic. I love the wonder it holds!
I especially loved the last section. The transition from the polyp’s “real genealogical tree”, three generations stuck in one body, to the diagram folding out of the Origin, and then that closing line, "life itself shapeshifting". Time is woven into what a living thing is.
It reminded me of Caspar Henderson’s The Book of Barely Imagined Beings – maybe because I see a similar appetite for creatures that won’t sit still in our language and categories. He retells Borges’s A Bao A Qu, which lives at the foot of a tower and only comes into being when someone climbs it. Its color deepens, and its light brightens step by step but if the climber turns back it hangs there “as if paralyzed, its body incomplete.” Henderson’s interpretation is that unless we enlarge our imaginations to take account of other forms of being, we miss our main task. A body that can’t complete itself alone - it belongs among your polyps :)
Thank you so much, that means a great deal to me. I love the A Bao A Qu connection. Strange bodies have so much to tell us, and biology can be every bit as rich as literature. There are many more curious creatures waiting in Darwin :)
Thank you for introducing me to these beings! they’ve been genuinely inspiring. I agree that biology can be as rich as literature. Looking forward to the rest of the curious creatures.
Yay new chapter! I’ve saved this one for the plane ride ✨
Thanks Luna, excited to hear your thoughts!! 😁