scarlett ribbons

I never got along with my
father - when I was 3 I wished
they would break up so I could
go off with my mom.

The same mom who was so
jealous of his adoration of
the infant me that she cut
it off at the source.

He hauled off and slugged me
often. “Don’t you talk to your
mother that way!”
She hit me too. With a shoe.

But stuck in my head
like a treasure in the attic
are memories of
my father and music.

He played the piano.
He played “Fur Elise.”
When I was very little
he played “The Airplane Song.”

I was the plane. spinning
through the living room,
arms outstretched as wings.
Sometimes I just sat

At his feet, as they worked
the pedals. It was cozy
hiding under the keyboard,
listening to him play.

There was one song he sang
every year about this time. “Scarlett Ribbons,” the Burl Ives
version. He sang it anywhere.

In his dark car driving
home from work, with
me in the back seat,
singing along.

(everybody!)

Love, love, love.
Love, love, love.
Love, love, love.

There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game.
It's easy.

Nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time.
It's easy

All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.

All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.

Nothing you can know that isn't known.
Nothing you can see that isn't shown.
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.
It's easy.

All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.

All you need is love (all together, now!)
All you need is love. (everybody!)
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need (love is all you need).

Yee-hai!
Oh yeah!
She loves you, yeah yeah yeah.
She loves you, yeah yeah yeah.

C John Lennon 1967

Am I to gang ba-are-foot?

JAPANESE CHILDREN are accustomed to lots or toys. They have their games and nursery rhymes galore. Their "Mother Goose" is centuries older than ours; in fact, it is said that Japanese mothers used to recite its jingles long before Columbus discovered America. (new york times 1908)

どんぐり ころころ どんぶりこ!
おいけに はまって さあ たいへん!
どじょうが でてきて "こんにちは!"
"ぼっちゃん, いっしょに あそびましょ!"

Acorn bowl is small and round thing rolling!

Now you go out into the most!
Loach have been in the "Hello!"
"Son, ASOBIMASHO together!"

も~もたろさん, ももたろさん
おこしに つけた きびだんご
ひとつ わたしに くださいな

あ~げましょう, あげましょう
これから ぼくと おにたいじ
ついて~ くるなら あげましょう

- MOTARO also said, she MOMOTARO
TSUKETAKI to come BIDANGO
One is to me, please

I ~ GEMASHOU,'ll
Fetus in the future and I
If you happen to come about --

あめ あめ ふれ ふれ かあさんが~
蛇の目(じぁのめ) で お迎え (おむかえ) うれしいな ~
ピッチ ピッチ! チャップ チャップ! ラン ラン ラン!

Bandy bandy candy from a candy KAASAN
Bull's-eye (ANOME time) to pick up (meeting) is pleased to
Pitch Pitch! Chap chap! Run Run Run!

むすんで　ひらいて
手をうって　むすんで

また　ひらいて　手をうって
その手を上に

むすんで　ひらいて
手をうって　むすんで

また　ひらいて　手をうって
あの手を下に

むすんで　ひらいて
手をうって　むすんで

MUSUN to come flying in
MUSUN hand in the fire

The thick hands that come flying
On their hands

MUSUN to come flying in
MUSUN hand in the fire

The thick hands that come flying
I get to the bottom

MUSUN to come flying in
MUSUN hand in the fire

forgive me forgive me

the translations are google's
they're senseless indeed --
please help if you can!
but no more senseless
than the english ones
with meanings lost in their births.

but for you, dear reader, they're gifts
i hope you enjoy them.
the whole book, a volland, of course,
is here. much more on the japanese rhymes are here.

drawings were in children's books: the rhymes belong to each culture alone, but the earliest japonisme -- greenaway, caldecott, and crane were far earlier than richardson, but the tradition is clear.

the light returns!

bells are ringing

Ring Your Bell for Peace

Sunday Dec 21 • 12 noon (wherever you are)

think • wish • pray • meditate for peace
then ring your bell for one minute

more info at ringthebellsofpeace.com

gifts of the season • 季節の贈り物

many years ago a woman i only slightly knew emailed me. "you're really into japanese prints, aren't you? there's a used book up at pegasus you might like." i don't even know how she knew. i just know she was right.

the collection of hiroshi yoshida's complete works has remained one of my treasures all these years since. now you can experience something like that as well.

pomegranate has released a series of books absolutely essential to any student of this blog's subject, and the first, shin hanga, has some of the best and most stunningly reproduced selections of his works i've seen since.

the shin hanga book is enhanced with beautifully reproduced works by toshi yoshida and ohara koson as well, and numerous other eastern and western printmakers we've covered here (and some we haven't!). the accompanying essay placing that moment into world and cultural history is written by barry till, curator of the asian prints department of the art gallery of greater victoria in british columbia.

accompanying this are three additional books including one of gustave baumann's prints of the southwest which is, again, a treasure of images that are rarely bound and reprinted so beautifully into a book. joseph traugott, curator at the new mexico museum of art, also includes related baumann's contemporaries with some rarely-viewed images, and baumann's own hard-to-find pre-print watercolors.

find the other two books here and here.

on the 183rd day of christmas

on the first day of christmas, santa got a little confused, you know. too much nog. he used the eggs.

on the second day of christmas my true love gave to me cyclamen. and i will tell you, these things last forever. you take them for done-for and they surprise you again.

on the third day of christmas

on the fourth day

on the fifth day of christ- mas, my true love gave to me this lovely little mouse portrait. it's unusual for her work (that i've seen) in that the mice are more fully fleshed rather than drawn. yet she manages to capture their glee and curiosity nonetheless.

aren't these geese for the sixth completely wonderful??! found at mr door tree's valuable blog. this artist was new to me, but the blog features at least two of his books, every illustration a wonder.

on the seventh day of christmas... courtesans! excuse me? and yet they're dear, are they not? perhaps they intend to begin singing.

and in a truly playful spirit christmas was extended, first to high numbers, and then to infinity. it extended throughout the year.

or at least until the sun began to go away again. then it was our job to keep that light alive.

influence

there is only one problem with hannah sigur's beautiful new book the influence of japanese art on design.

it's not the choices of images; they are throughout wonderful selections, often selections rarely seen in books on this subject.

and it's certainly not the content. ms sigur manages enormous amounts of historical detail with dexterity and grace. she's clearly fascinated, and it's contageous. in fact, the depth of these discussions are as poetic as they are comprehensive.

no, the problem is something you may have already noticed: the images here are only minimally smaller than the ones in the actual book. these gorgeous illustrations are all but lost to my old eyes, as is the type.

visual clarity has been sacrificed to lean and stunning design: wide empty margins beg the question: couldn't you have had smaller margins and bigger pictures, larger type?

still, i must admit, there are enough treasures in this volume to gratify any enthusiast, and the softly glowing metallic cover makes it an appealing gift indeed. from gibbs-smith.