Saturday, May 23, 2009

The soul of a teddy bear

I am not a teddy bear kind of person.

I have no inherent issue with teddy bears, per se. I just feel about them the way I feel when I see a poster with a kitten clinging to a tree with a formal script underneath it reading "Hang in there." I think, "Uh, no."

But then I saw this book called Bears. The author took teddy bears turned them inside out and restuffed them. I know how they feel.




There is something so beautiful, so creepy, so weird, so ugly, so real, so perfect about these bears, even if they have scars, ugly lumps, their stuffing is coming out of weird orifices, perhaps because of them. Let's just say, I want to curl up with one of these. A misshapen, scarred mess of a bear and the misshaped, scarred mess of a woman. Together. Weeping poly-blend stuffing.

11 comments:

  1. I think I feel like those bears look.

    xxx

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  2. Go get you a teddy bear, rip it open, tear out it's stuffing and turn it inside out and make yuorself one!
    I really like this post. It is thought provoking and honest. The thought of you holding an inside out bear is very heartbreaking, raw and beautiful.
    Love to you...Linds

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  3. Doesn't your puppy provide this service for you every day? Mine does. :)

    Peace, friend.

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  4. Sort of. I get lots of puppy wrestling, kisses, attempts to jump up, nibbling...but I just relate to a bear that been turned inside out and restuffed. I feel like since the death of my daughter, that is one of the most apt images to describe me. that was really the point of the post, i am not lacking in hugs, fortunately.

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  5. Yep, me too Angie. I think I feel and look like those bears. Inside out and not at all as I should be.

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  6. oh my gosh. I so totally get it.

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  7. Yup. I often describe this to the others as being shattered into a million pieces and trying to figure out how to put it back together. Much love.

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  8. Sheeessh. The images were a bit disturbing for me. It can be so hard to take an honest look at the inside. Peace.

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  9. I'm not a teddy bear person either but I can definately feel a connection with those inside out bears. I connect with the lumpy-ness, distortion, and the sense of being barely held together. I wonder what made the artist try that.

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  10. Inside out. That's a perfect analogy. That's exactly how I feel. In side out. All of my guts, my workings, my inards, my soul...hanging out in the open for the world to gawk at.

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What do you think?