instant assemblage

(the following poem and images was assembled by an astonishing woman, imani. her discussion accompanying the poem is fascinating as well. she has clearly taken a lot of time and care with her choices; i, however, give you one or two from each post to which she linked. thank you.)

POEM

This beauty that I see

– the sun going down

scours the entangled

and lightly henna

withys and the wind








whips them as it

would ship a cloud –





is passing so swiftly








into night. A moon,

full and flat, and stars

a freight train passing

passing it is the sea




and not a train. This

beauty that collects

dry leaves in pools

and pockets and goes

freezingly, just able

still to swiftly flow

it goes, it goes.

--James Schuyler

mum's the word

they don't know who made this print, so they don't know when. the japanese chrysanthemum.

this one they do know, it's from the late 1800s, and it's by bairei kono, creator of lovely, simple images of fruits, vegetables, flowers, puppies, and other familiars of everyday life, seen unadorned, and beautifully.

in 1893, keika hasegawa put out his '100 chrysanthemums.' i can find no reference to anything else he ever did, nor anything about him. but i like his mums.

it was 1904 when seguy put out his art nouveau flower pouchoirs, and lithographs. japonisme in full... uh... bloom.

jo worked in the 1920s and 30s in japan, though it has been suggested that he may not be japanese. but don't you love that little grasshopper.

shodo kawarazaki's two prints come out of the 1950s, a tradition worth keeping, kept.

and this is from 1995, and not from japan at all, but much of this artist's work shows a clear understanding of the sensibility.

many thanks to cerf à paillettes for turning me on to robert kushner.







when japan did what it inadvertently did to teach us seeing, it left a lasting impression.

visual haiku

can it be a heron,
plum blossoms, or snow?
no. tonight it is the moon.

hasu midori

baika jo, the plum blossom album, 1808; baika jo, the plum blossom album, 1808 (this is available online at the new york public library).
ohara koson, little egret on a branch.