Stay with the image
Which lion?
Image · A gallery, a glass · Natural history
Do not translate the lion into courage.
Not: what does lion symbolize. Which lion? Sleeping. Behind glass. In a gallery. What did it do? Nothing. What color was the light? Institutional. What was your relationship to it? You looked through a pane.
An image is not a problem waiting to become prose.
Associated
Associations may come. Mark them as associations. They belong to you. They are not the lion’s job.
Concordance
- The thing
- A sleeping lion behind glass.
- Seen
- Tawny hide, closed eyes, a paw, a pane, gallery light, a faint reflection.
- Sourced
- James Hillman, The Dream and the Underworld and related essays: stay with the image; an image is not a problem waiting to become prose.
- Miss
- ‘Lion = strength’ erases this lion. This one is not hunting. It is not bleeding. It is not in a kitchen. It is behind glass.
- One question remains
- What is your relationship to this lion, as it is?
