Making spoons teaches one to listen. To listen with theeyes, to...

Making spoons teaches one to listen. To listen with the
eyes, to listen with the fingertips, to let the wood tell one what to do. Each
time a point comes in the carving when I think, impossible, I do not have the
skill to make this work. I tell myself to keep going, stay patient, and trust
the wood will start speaking, start telling me what I need to know. It’s a
funny act of trust—listening to the wood, respecting what it says, responding
to what it’s saying, and trusting that you’re hearing it in the right spirit,
with the right skill. One listens and responds with intuition (that blood-muscled-feathered voice in
the viscera), and patience, and honesty. It is a full body process, this listening, this giving of
attention.