Sheltered in Place

BY RICHARD LEVINE

You watch your boy struggle with giving
up the turtle, returning it to the pond
where he’d found it on a walk—
first time you’d all been out in days.

How thoughtful he thought he’d been,
making it a home in the home
where the family sheltered in place.
How he cared for his armored friend.

Having picked flowers, knowing they’d die,
you understand the urge to pluck
the exotic, the beautiful—any diversion
from fear, which is in itself a disease.

That morning, you helped your boy
give up the idea of living forever.

The song I picked is called “Kakusei” by Superfly, it was a song created and used in the animation movie called “Promare”, which is what the artwork is based on. With the way the beat changes in the song, the image is also based on one of the scenes from the movie that I greatly love (youtube.com/watch?v=jfa-CVDgsFw) Link for reference. I thought the scene matched what the project wanted with the colors.

My news article is about the Amazon forest fire, It surprised me when I realized that people just forgot this was still happening even before COVID 19 came to take over the world.

My imaginary being is a supernatural being wanting to be a pretty mermaid but in order to create her body to move around, she had to use items she found underwater. I imagine this kind of character desperately wanting to have a body and look pretty that she did her best in creating a body with what she could find in the depths of the ocean. She would do her best to maintain the items she collected in good shape and constantly look at herself into a mirror thinking that she is the prettiest of them all. Though if anyone was swimming underwater and ended up seeing her, they would properly end up freaking out instead, especially once she starts to swim towards them. What I used for this collage was printing images, scissors, glue, and bristol paper. Most color focused is on the being while the background is monochrome.