Lotus Pods
Rozome on Kimono Silk
Framed 28 x 22"
Private collection
First night in Penestanan:
As the evening deepened, I retired to the four poster bed,
drawing down the gauzy white mosquito netting.
I felt very small; my mattress became the young green seed head of a lotus blossom, suspended above the black pond, pink petals closed around me in the dark. Life pulsated as thousands of frogs, crickets, and geckos nearly drowned out the soft gamelan and drums wafting across the newly planted rice paddies.
Then, sound sleep… eventually interrupted by the crow of the first rooster to sense the possibility of a new day. Though it was still quite dark, he was gradually joined by dozens of others, who woke the doves, the cicadas, the Bali dogs, and me.
—excerpt from To Bali and Back, by Bunny Bowen
Published in Sandoval Signpost, April 2013