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
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
when i awake
i wonder
if the color i saw
in my dream
was real
or imaginary
was 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.
The leaves of the bush clover rustle in the wind.
I, not a leaf,
watched you without a sound.
You may have thought I paid no attention.
~Kenrei Mon-in*
*cited:
Women Poets of Japan
K Rexroth & I Atsumi
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.
Is it because you always hope, my heart,
that I always light a lamp
in the orange twilight?
~Yosano Akiko*
*cited
Women Poets of Japan
K Rexroth & I Atsumi
a single leaf falls
then suddenly another,
stolen by the breeze
~Ransetsu
…
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*
my gift to you today…awakening seeds of calmness… right diligence
*cited:
Women Poets of Japan
K Rexroth & I Atsumi
There is a peaceful community
in a place of burned up hopes,
beside 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
somewhere in multiple layers of perspective is…a truth.
A multiple exposure image submitted in response to Lost in Translation’s challenge.
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*
*cited:
Li Po and Tu Fu
A Cooper
They ask me where’s the sense
on jasper mountains?
I laugh and don’t reply,
in heart’s own quiet:
Peach petals float their streams
away in secret
To other skies and earths
than those of mortals
~Li Po*
Resilient: multiple exposure images of the ever-changing landscape along Hwy. 287 between Laramie, Wyoming and Fort Collins, Colorado in combination with Li Po’s poem, In the Mountains: A reply to the Vulgar” reflect the resilience of time and words.
*cited:
Li Po and Tu Fu
A Cooper
a meditative journey 
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