Armored carapace
marries this hide to my hundred-year-old body
This union of protection
sallies my ancient form through waters
older than you or I
Brothers and sisters
honor the places your body moves upon
Respect the glory of the four elements
with guardianship as infinite as the heavens
Do not let your watchful eyes wither
like naked flesh in burning sand
I must breathe
You must breathe
Oceans must breathe
Do you understand
I only ask because
it seems many have forgotten
anntogether
AM Roselli's art & writing site
anntogether 
Lovely writing, and so amazing these big creatures can live so much longer than we do.
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Thank you, John. Turtles are so very cool:)
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So beautiful! On an early visit to Maui, Georgia came face-to-face with a sea turtle in crystal clear water off Mile Marker 14. “I looked right into his eyes,” she breathlessly told me.
Once again, AnnMarie, you have told the story of one of our wild creatures with compassion and respect. – Fawn
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Ah, thank you, Fawn. What an amazing face-to-face 🙂
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Such a lovely drawing and accompanying words! Great message, my friend! 💞
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Many thanks, Sibella 🙂
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You’re so welcome, MY FRIEND! 🙂
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Too few remember the ancient waters are dying. The Fukushima nuclear tragedy is still evolving on the coastal areas. Sad!
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Let’s hope things change for the better, Olga. Wouldn’t that be wonderful:)
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AnnMarie, I’m starting with the art first, ’cause it’s amazing — such rich, lovely hues of blue, green and … brown? And again, those eyes — my God, they tell the story, don’t they? Speaking of which, the story, the verse, is superb in all ways — writing and message. I’d like to reblog this eventually, if you don’t mind (I think I’m resurrecting the other blog, posting maybe once a week). This is a serious message, so well stated and shown, and I think it needs more attention, more distribution. Happy-whatever-day-it-is, Miss! 🙂 Beautiful post.
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I’d done this piece awhile ago. I wanted to repub my turtle and needed something of substance (as all turtles deserve) to go with him. Every time I looked at the words I’d written I didn’t think they worked at all. So I gave it one more shot yesterday and played around with the phrasing. I actually looked up “carapace.” This is one of those pieces I really wasn’t sure about. But, thank you, I appreciate your words here very much 🙂
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“Carapace” is a great word = care – a – pace … like pace your care, but don’t … oh, hell, I don’t know what I’m talking about. It’s early, I’m on 2nd cup. You know, you’re like some of the students I “used to have”: ask them how they thought they did on a test and they’d say they didn’t feel good about it … and then come to find out they’d aced it. I think you have fine sensibilities about your work, Miss. Trust thyself.
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I purple pen myself 😉
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Oh, God — not the purple pen! 🙂 Well, that regal hue certainly does make this infinitely better, I can attest to that. I’ll betcha as a kid you loved Harold and the Purple Crayon, didn’t you? (I did.) Purple away, Miss, it’s like magic.
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Purple good, red bad 😉
Actually, I favored Blue Cookie Monster – Harold never provided cookies 😉
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Blue Cookie Monster was after my time — God, you’re so young. 🙂
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only in my mind 😉
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And yet another insightful, intelligent and imaginative piece.
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Thank you very much, Stuart.
am:)
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Nice work AnnMarie! Keep up the good work!
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Stunning image. Soooo relaxing.
Would love to see what your thoughts are on my latest piece : MyKad ID card
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Well said, AnnMarie! Outstanding illustration!
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Thank you, Leslie
🙂
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“I only ask because it seems many have forgotten”……love this line. Great illustration here too! We saw Galapagos turtles at an animal sanctuary in Bermuda — and were fortunate enough to see them awake and m—-o—–v—–i—–n—–g every so slowly, plodding. They take each step so thoughtfully, carefully….the foot goes up so slowly and comes back down so slowly. The lesson “honor the places your body moves upon”….wonderfully perfect for what these creatures can teach us!
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Very few creatures live as long. It would be nice to learn from such ancient and peaceful souls:)
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