When I was a kid, I used to accumulate burnt-out light bulbs in a paper bag and then take them down to the river to smash against the rocks.
In my twenties, it was vodka and gin bottles.
Last year, I got so mad at my computer that I hurled a glass of water against a table and it shattered in a zillion pieces. I was left to contemplate my anger as I carefully picked all those shards out of the carpet.
Then I started writing a song about it.
That’s what I hope to do with all my anger and broken glass: Make something of it.
I have loved the look of fused glass ever since I first laid eyes on it 30 years ago. Today I deliberately broke glass as a creative act, for the first time – with an instructor’s help.
I took the pieces home with me after the class to play with, to design what will become a fused-glass sushi plate.
I’m so sorry I didn’t learn to do this sooner.
Today’s penny is a 2014, the year of those shards in the carpet.
