Field Notes of the Wondernaut Inaugural

1. Sir Tessa, first and only member of the Society of Homeless Wondernauts, roamed directionless through the vaults and cabinets of the British Empire's junk room. The vases and sculptures had never breathed. She sought something should could feel, and trusted her heart, a weary and much battered curl of whimsy, would tell her when she had found it.

2. In the Middle East there can be found colour, and in these carpets, oldest in the world and downtrodden by duty, there was once breath. Sir Tessa is not sure. Her heart is not sure. Both tremble in stillness. Light may come. Light may be certain. She waits.

3. The carpet is exhausted. The light falls upon and is locked in the warp and weft 400 years hungry. The longing is plaintive; give me your dust and footprints, give me the paths you follow in life. Invisible barriers keep the wondernaut from pressing her forehead to the carpet.

4. Colour brilliant and faded. All breathed once. The love of artisans and masters. And yet, Sir Tessa, the first, only and lonesome member of the Society of Homeless Wondernauts, is moved by none of these exquisite objects. She wonders, standing before the trophies of the Renaissance, if she has lost her hunter's instinct.

5. The wondernaut spins lost through treasures endless, and although she does not know what she is looking for, her heart pauses at the word 'glass'.

6. Glass catches light and throws it playfully. Perception and perspective curve nervous and uncertain. The colours have never breathed, and yet sing with the voice of all colours. Amid beauty transparent Sir Tessa hooks an inquisitive finger and when the tray of broken shards presents itself, there is a glimmer, a quiet unfurling in her heart.

7. Beautiful like breaking glass.

8. Still these objects leave the wondernaut barren.



(She wants a garden of stubborn little herbs and unfriendly flowers. She wants ordinary moths to sit motionless upon the wall. She wants mud on her boots and wind in her ears. She wants to be surprised.)

9. Sir Tessa, first, only and unchallenged member of the Society of Homeless Wondernauts, returns to her berth.

10. And wonders.