japonisme: travelling along the contours

04 September 2008

travelling along the contours


THE SHAPES OF LEAVES









Ginkgo, cottonwood, pin oak,
sweet gum, tulip tree:

our emotions resemble leaves and alive
to their shapes we are nourished.

Have you felt the ex- panse and contours of grief
along the edges of
a big Norway maple?

Have you winced at
the orange flare


searing the curves of a curling dogwood?
I have seen from the air logged islands,
each with a network of branching
gravel roads,


and felt a moment of
pure anger, aspen gold.

I have seen sandhill cranes moving in an open field,
a single white whooping crane in the flock.

And I have traveled along the contours
of leaves that have no name. Here
where the air is wet and the light is cool,

I feel what others are thinking and do not speak,
I know pleasure in the veins of a sugar maple,
I am living at the edge of a new leaf.

Arthur Sze

From The Redshifting Web:
Poems 1970-1998
,

published by Copper Canyon Press, 1998. Copyright © 1998 by Arthur Sze.


i discovered a cool blog today; its author and i sometimes think alike.

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7 Comments:

Blogger Tess Kincaid said...

I am thoroughly enjoying your posts! I spent a summer in Japan years ago and have always admired anything Japanese.

05 September, 2008 06:56  
Blogger lotusgreen said...

thank you, willow. how lovely for you! where did you stay?

05 September, 2008 08:25  
Blogger Margaret said...

The clothing is just beautiful. So graceful and elegant! Thank you for sharing it!

05 September, 2008 16:00  
Blogger lotusgreen said...

my pleasure, margaret.

i was sitting there looking at these gowns, trying to figure out what they reminded me of, and suddenly i know. and then they really reminded me of them.

do you think maybe the japanese originally designed the kimono after the cranes?

05 September, 2008 16:10  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So wonderful !^^

06 September, 2008 11:00  
Blogger lotusgreen said...

merci beaucoup, scheharazade, et bien venue!

06 September, 2008 11:33  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello lotus
Many apologies for my belated acknowledgment of your comments on orange-tinted glasses about the kimono pattern book print. I continue to be impressed by the way you tie in japonisme to so many areas.

by the way, you probably already know about this, but came across this apparently mysterious Hokusai

http://blogs.princeton.edu/graphicarts/2007/12/hokusais_abalone_diver.html

I bet you can help!
Leann at OTG

21 September, 2008 17:05  

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hi, and thanks so much for stopping by. i spend all too much time thinking my own thoughts about this stuff, so please tell me yours. i thrive on the exchange!

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