Two More Artistic Statements

They are growing fast and furious, like bulbs in the spring.  My question now is: should I give each prose thingy its own title, instead of just calling the poor thing by a number?  Anyway, here are two more drafts:

Artistic Statement # 16

I like contemplating and exaggerating the range of possibilities in monsters' lives; will they hide in caves? Will they devour all the horses? For the same reason, my father and I create swords of flame. My goal is to invite glory and a suit of golden armor from the gods, leaving the responsibility of the story’s conclusion up to an unknown peasant lad. The monsters, limitless and mysterious, are what make both the deep woods and the ocean so exciting to me.

Another one after the jump.

Artistic Statement #17

“I am the only pine tree you will ever love. The paradise lost, the green lady of memory,” she whispered. Startled by her voice, he remembered the California hillside, the taste of her lips (clove and balsam) the creek almost dry, the risk of getting caught, and the sun on his neck as his hands traveled up and down a span of her trunk. He loved a young girl who never existed. She was imprisoned in an idea: What if a girl lived inside a tree? He was a young man delighted by summer nights, and full of desire to bound up the mountain, and climb beyond the human.