art

thursday’s special: pick a word in feburary – y2

Sweet and sad

like love overwhelmed

with long sighs,

out of the depths of the willow

little by little

the moon appears.

~Yosano Akiko*

arboreal

arboreal

I found myself drawn, not to this tree, but to the shadows playing upon its trunk.  Image submitted in response to Lost in Translation’s photo challenge.

*cited:

Women Poets of Japan

K Rexroth & I Atsumi

real or imaginary

when i awake

i wonder

if the color i saw

in my dream

was real 

or imaginary

winterbckofford-abstract20154dsc_2139jan-27-2017was it red?

i turn back

towards the word red

but the color is gone

what i thought was 

being alive 

is only various colors

reflected and

scattered

in my mind

sun setting

turned the windowpane orange

shower spray

was a diamond color

so i thought

now only the memory 

of color remains

the window 

and the shower spray

have vanished.

~Yoshihara Sachiko

I found this video, The Pattern behind Self-deception, at Ted.com by Michael Shermer interesting as well as entertaining.  Hope you find your self smiling.

A nightmare

Feeling a bit unsettled today since it feels as though my life is being pulled through an insanity that could only be a nightmare: an onslaught of Executive orders issued with pursed lips and fanfare and without a review of Constitutional Law…an executive agency defying the ruling of a federal judge…Bannon being appointed the head of the National Security Council while Trump limits the roles of the director of intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff…and this seemingly never-ending nightmare goes on and on.

This emotional reactivity that has exploded on Twitter only adds to this nightmare.  We need to find a way to begin an effective dialogue between people of differing opinions. I fear we are too far down the road for this to even begin because elements that were put into place to ensure our  freedoms are being threatened: false news that ensures division among the population; gag orders that seem to restrict freedom of speech; the statement that the media is an “opposition party” seems like an attempt to block the freedom of the press; a weakening of “checks and balances”; a trivial need to validate the presidency through images and imaginary numbers; and most unsetting, the removal of the bipartisan Broadcasting Board of Governors opening up the possibility of the Voice of America being used as a propaganda tool.

What power do I as a single person have to wake up from this insane dream?  It is recommended that I contact those elected to represent me…senators and representatives…and I have done so, but I wonder why I don’t feel reassured that I will wake up any time soon.

anxiety’s blindness

…

Every day my anxiety grew deeper,

until it enveloped me so thickly

that I could see nothing.

Alone in an illimitable desert

I wept hopelessly, as if in a nightmare in dawn

where the open mouth blue sky wept with me.

…

~Nakamura Chio*

beauty

my gift to you today…awakening seeds of calmness… right diligence

*cited:

Women Poets of Japan

K Rexroth &  I Atsumi

Grazing

There is a peaceful community

in a place of burned up hopes,

whiteblossombeside the tracks of dreams 

that drifted away

on the edge of a village

where crowds pass by.

There, men gather in harmony

to gaze like sheep and fawns.

On all the beautiful flowers

a sun comes and goes

through the clouds in freedom.

~Mitsui Futabako*

*cited:

Women Poets of Japan

K Rexroth & I Atsumi

I think of you on such a night

The autumn wind is light,

The autumn moon is bright;

Fallen leaves gather but then disperse,

A cold crow roosts but again he stirs;

I think of you, and wonder when I’ll see you again?

At such an hour, on such a night, cruel is love’s pain?

~Li P0*

onsuchanight

*cited:

Li Po and Tu Fu

A Cooper