Dear Crocodile----Pam Lawton's entry for Gail's Book



I started by doing some research on crocodiles---honestly I don't know the difference between crocodiles and alligators, but I did know that they've been around since the dinosaur era--so they are definitely resilient.  In my research I discovered that crocodiles really do shed tears and they do look like they are smiling.  But don't be fooled, the tears are not real ones, but a means to help lubricate their eyes and keep them clear.  Gail's piece for the book included the poem, We Wear the Mask by Paul Lawrence Dunbar, which speaks to Black folx need to continuously mask their true feelings as a survival mechanism.

I believe the crocodiles tears and smile are also a mask, a form of insincere expression. I knew I wanted to create the image of a smiling, crying, crocodile with it's head out of the water. I also wanted to experiment with materials I've never used.  I have several leather and cloth samples given to me by an interior designer.  I cut the leather to create the crocodile's head.  At first I planned to create water waves by stitching together several pieces of blue patterned cloth, but then decided to cut up a piece from a letterpress print I'd made on top of a paste paper background.  Included are two aerialists, but turned horizontally, they look like a couple swimming.  I also had a stylized crocodile stamp, so I stamped crocs swimming with the aerialists. The last piece was the image of a painting that I saw in a gallery several years ago.  The painter is really talented and the image is a young Black girl in the water with a gater or croc.  

So, I decided to write a poem about the mask the crocodile wears and created a little book with the poem and the painting of the girl on the cover.

Crocodile Tears, Crocodile Smiles

Dear crocodile, please don't cry,

I will be your friend

until the day I die.

                                                                                    
Why thank you dear one,

Come sit on the shore with me awhile.

We can both enjoy the warmth of the sun,

Said the crocodile with a beguiling smile.










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