"Worlds Within Worlds," video reading by Anne Sherwood Pundyk and Eli Epstein-Deutch at Familiars Quarterly launch, Baby's All Right, Brooklyn, NY, May, 2015

The story of "Worlds Within Worlds" begins: "I prefer the mode of the turtle: slow, steady, and non-confrontational. I have my reasons. I am easily swayed and overly sensitive to slights and criticisms. I like carrying my protective house with me. This is my way..." It continues: “For many years I made paintings of cups from my grandmother's house. They were decorated with an old fashioned blue and white pattern called Blue Willow, incorporating landscapes, a house, birds and trees inside a geometric border. Eventually I realized that the pattern on the surface of the cups could be altered and provide a way to tell my own stories: sometimes confident, sometimes invisible, sometimes flat on my back and needing a helping hand to right myself.”

The catalyst for a shift between one world to another can take many different forms: a smooth stroke of the hand, the recollection of a dream, a crushed bone, or the sound of a china dish hitting the floor. As the story is narrated, a montage of narrative elements presents: a turtle traversing uneven terrain, a women washing dishes, a naked woman lying in the grass, a child and a woman playing an iPhone game together, an audience awaiting a performer. It culminates with a dish slipping from the woman’s hand and falling to the floor.