The Wondrous Sea

Hello, friends. I have returned from Puerto Rico, where i spent a few days at my aunt's condo with her, my cousin Giani, and my cousin Lindsey! We had quite a bit of fun and relaxation - tanning on the beach, playing in the waves, checking out old forts and local markets and dining out :) It was amazing! I'll be posting pics from the trip shortly. But one of the things i was most excited about for this trip was FINALLY being able to do a photoshoot that had been brewing in my mind for over a year. It was triggered by a poem I wrote a year ago, which was inspired by a quote by the ingenious C.S. Lewis. The poem and quote are as follows:

The Wondrous Sea

Clothed in white,

the wind tugging at her trailing dress,

beckoning her into the sea.

But she presses on,

desperately trying to clutch the bundles and suitcases

of burdens, of heartbreak, of fear.

Hair in her eyes, under the weight of it all,

the sea catches her eye; she releases all the baggage

and leaves it all behind, running toward the sea.

Small steps at first, into the water,

wading, plunging up to her chest,

the current inviting her further.

She stops suddenly, and questions the depths surrounding her.

As the current ebbs and flows, she fights to maintain a foothold,

and the bottom is swept from beneath her.

She is lost in the cascading waves,

she has lost control as the current encircles her,

the waves implore her and she surrenders.

Finally understanding that surrendering control

was exactly what she needed.

And the glorious sea engulfs this woman in white.

-Katy Gunderson, January 15, 2009

Inspired by C.S. Lewis' quote: "We have been like bathers who want to keep their feet - or one foot - or one toe - on the bottom, when to lose that foothold would be to surrender themselves to a glorious tumble in the surf. The consequences of parting with our last claim to intrinsic freedom, power, or worth, are real freedom, power and worth, really ours just because God gives them and because we know them to be (in another sense) not "ours"." -The Four Loves

Currently, I'm working on unpacking this poem and creating a short story out of it for my Fiction Writing class. It's weird, now a year later, unsure of who i was writing about or what i meant exactly - what sparked this poem other than Lewis' quote. But, after all that has happened in the past year, I've come to resemble this "woman in white" - clinging to bags and parcels of heartbreak, hurt, and control. Being able to finally take this photo shoot, with my amazing cousin's help was SO neat, especially with where i'm at. I'd LOVE feedback - let me know what you think :) Maybe someday I'll redo this shoot and use more suitcases and parcels, hopefully more antiqued and older ones.

My lovely cousin Lindsey is the model below:

And Lindsey took these: