The original drawing, albiet with photoshop lighting, from a drop-in, non-instructional lifedrawing session at the Toronto School of Art.100 Million Sperm A Day
100 Million Sperm A Day, ink, pencil on paper, text a digital layer, 11"x14", ©2005 Brenda Clews
That's a point for our side! Oh, I forgot -- I've had a vasectomy.
ReplyDeleteWhen I did the research, and decided, in my project of 'rewriting the text,' and putting poetry back into science, all that blab blab, I discovered it was most fun to think of ways to describe the male sexual system in ways that expressed the sheer abundance...
ReplyDeleteAh, but don't you have 4 children already? Creating those younguns surely was highly pleasurable fun for those glowing little suns, cells of life...
-:)
Well now...lest we forget...a zillion sperm without transport is a zillion sperm "at the ready." More pertinent to the productive process is a little thing called "motility," without which sperm cannot be transported. Now there is food for thought for a poem. Go for it!
ReplyDeletelhombre -:)
ReplyDeleteOf the 300 million sperm in an ejaculate, the one that penetrates, or shall we say is drawn in by, the golden egg indeed undergoes a true hero's journey.
-:)
Sometimes I imagine I remember that journey -- of course I don't really, but it's fun. I tell myself that if I could win that race, I can do anything. And of course it's a journey that's made equally by men and women, although the vehicle is male.
ReplyDeleteThat journey, from primordial germ cells, to sperm, meiosis being a form of transformation, taking about 74 days, is an astounding one. And even then, the sperm aren't viable, they aren't capacitated until they've been in the vagina for about 20 min or so, where they rest for a bit, before swimming with great gusto in...the guy who undulates all over the egg and is invited in, stunning & breathless. I think there's a rather wild ride in the Nilsson/Nova production "Life's Greatest Miracle"...called "The Sperm's Journey." Breathtaking, really, to consider the creation of self from the moment of arising deep in the scrotum to the dance of uniting with the ovum to birth. And why shouldn't we remember the journey... ah, yes. xo
ReplyDeleteI was once told I had lot's of eggs but didn't have motility. My two sons must have been incredible swimmers! I guess it just takes a little shove.
ReplyDeleteOr...........................?
Good Lord! I meant sperm count!
ReplyDelete(last response was to Richard, got carried away with watching the Nova production on my computer!)
ReplyDeleteLhombre - I liked the slip! Had me laughing... actually primordial sperm cells arise from yolk sacs, to begin with, at the beginning... And obviously enough motility there to sire two sons! Medical profession notwithstanding. -:)
I've only been pregnant twice, with my son & daughter, and I only wanted two children. So it all worked out (except for the marriage, sigh).
The microscopic cells of life, tiny little bursts of light, glimmering, vibrant with the possible future, they are so fascinating in themselves, and around them, such pleasure...
Oh no! Now I'm going to think of "tiny little bursts of" LUZ! I need big bursts. There's been too many tiny ones. Really? A possible future?
ReplyDelete:) We all need big bursts of LUZ... :chuckles:
ReplyDeleteUh! I'm not willing to share my muse. Little spermatoa, that's one thing. My muse...no way! Sorry........
ReplyDeleteGod! Three hours later I just realized the implications of what I said at 5:09pm! I hope I still hear chuckles?
ReplyDeleteWell, ya know, lhombre, it's funny, but years ago I set out to do a multi-disciplinary thesis on light, from cave art to religion to science and so on (a broad spectrum). I've been obsessed with light all my life, really! One possible title for it was the Roman, "Lux Lumen." Really, I kid you not. I ended up with "Dazzling Darkness," from a 17th c poem. Didn't end up finishing the mms, which is another story. So, not implying that Lux could be anyone else's muse, no, never that, but feeling an understanding, an empathy if you will, towards LIGHT, I meant that comment as a kind of cameraderie, sort of "together in the light." And as, not really inspiration, but energy - light as energy. Which we could all do with more of for our creativity. But it all fit quite nicely into the gentle joking that this post is evoking. So, yes, of course chuckles. That, I hope, will never stop.... xo
ReplyDelete