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Working with Deborah Koff Chapin’s Soulcards
THREE FACES
Image Swimming is a term I invented for a series of literary meditations inspired by visual work — in this case, the work of Deborah Koff Chapin, creator of Soulcards. I’m using the cards from Deck 2. Please visit https://touchdrawing.com/ for more on this transformative process.
There are three faces here.
There is the face she shows the world,
upturned and smooth with her hair swept back
to cover the shipwrecked face inside
the one with her eyes closed,
the one trying to find her heart
with the palm of her hand
without looking.
And above it all, there is her spiritface. Its giant eye
watches through the trees, or from the moon,
or it stares back up at her from her work.
It sees everything. Her time with people,
her time alone, the minor lies she tells for no reason,
the kindnesses, the fuckups, all the raw material
before it’s processed and packaged and shipped
as “who she is.”
