| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
| welkin |
| SYLLABICATION: | wel·kin |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  w l k n |
| NOUN: | Archaic 1. The vault of heaven; the sky. 2. The upper air. |
| ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English welken, from Old English wolcen, weolcen, cloud. |
Michelle, This piece really got me thinking about the distinctions we make between heaven and hell. As the small toy birds play on the puffy clouds, letters rain down – giddily, as if they were small puppet angels. We are happily thriving in the celestial cosmos and then all of a sudden this theatrical space is punctured, not violently, but delicately, by a witnessing of the real, the urban, the decrepit and forgotten. There is a solemn and perhaps content man, oblivious to our watching him and we wonder if we turn away will he return the favor by watching us. What will happen when the WELKIN opens up on everyone, all at once — will it be a loud or silent, harsh or kind? Lynne Sachs