We Are Shaped to Hold, by Sidh Jaddu

Pottery, photography by Antonio Marano (Italy) contemporary. “” by antonio, CC BY 2.0

We Are Shaped to Hold

​A lump of clay rests on the wheel,
steady, silent, unformed.
The turns of the motor begin,
a low hum that sets the body’s pace.
Composed hands slick with cool water,
anchoring the clay to its center.
Push too hard, and it collapses.
Too soft, and it drifts off balance.
There is an exchange here:
the hand shaping,
the clay resisting,
both adjusting.
Slowly, walls rise where there was only a mass.
The vessel remembers each touch,
a record of pressure and release.
Held steady by confident, caring hands,
we are pressed gently, yet firmly, finding balance.
We find our shape in them.
 
Now the form has weight and shape,
yearning to be finished.
The wheel turns again, slower.
Metal meets the clay’s skin,
deliberately revealing the base,
giving the vessel a place to stand.
Thin curls fall to the floor,
spirals of what the pot no longer needs.
This is subtraction as creation:
we keep what is necessary,
release what is not,
and in letting go of the excess,
uncover our true self.
To reveal strength.
To let the form breathe.
 
Later, when the clay is dry,
it waits for its final skin.
The potter dips, brushes, pours-
liquid glass covering fragile walls.
The glaze looks dull, like dust,
a muted promise of colour.
But in the kiln, fire transforms it.
Heat moves through the minerals,
unlocking colour from stone and ash.
Iron drifts into rust-red,
cobalt awakens into deep blue,
ash unravels into flowing rivers of green.
The vessel becomes more
than the sleeping earth it once was:
It holds the memory of touch,
the mark of fire,
the long pause of cooling.
We too are a muted promise
until the fire finds us. 
Such is the heat
revealing the colours inside.
 
The pot is lifted from the kiln,
warm, solid, awake in the hands.
A piece of earth, reshaped.
A record of labour, of mistakes, of patience
meant to hold water,
or flowers,
or air.
We are shaped to hold:
holding burdens, 
holding joy,
holding lessons learned;
we are forever emerging.

Sidh Jaddu

Sidh Jaddu is a rising high school senior in Virginia whose primary focus is ceramics. Working on the pottery wheel and through hand-built alteration, he explores how clay responds to pressure and heat. He is drawn to both the science of how clay behaves and the meaning a form can carry, using his work to open dialogue rather than provide answers. His ceramic pieces have been recognized nationally, including exhibition at NCECA and honours from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. He occasionally writes poetry as an extension of his pottery, reflecting on similar ideas of transformation.