Category: creativity

Zen In Hand

A dear friend of mine passed away recently. She was a potter, and the gifts of her creations fill my home. This poem by Jazz J is as exquisitely crafted as Nadine’s works. I share it with you today to honour both women.

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March 16, 2018.  This poem emerged while studying Zen poets – mostly male, but one female poet made the syllabus.  Otagaki Rengetsu (1791–1875) became a Japanese Buddhist nun and one of the country’s most respected female artists – combining her poetry, calligraphy, and pottery.  She learned from Kyoto potters and decorated her rough and rugged bowls, cups, and other vessels with her poetry, either painted on or scored into the clay in flowing calligraphy. Orders from tea masters and others kept her very busy.  This collage of found images shows both her pottery and calligraphy styles.

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A Poem’s Life

No value
have these words –
splotches on white –

no meaning
structure worthless –
two-dimensional

until eyes curious
willing to linger
invite order

add focus,
insert experience
inject emotion

paint the page
with resonance
bring a poem to life.

(A thank you to all my dear readers, whose support gives me so much encouragement and brings my words to life.)

Colouring

Remember when lines meant challenge
and colouring was not confined to
parameters, but an invitation
to explore, and days spent
contemplating invited
song, and nothing
really mattered
except the
moment?

There is a place
balanced between
the bustle of doing and
the edge of non-existence
where fantasy beckons,
where aged minds, content
with past accomplishments
come to rest, to ponder –

who once again recognize
that lines hold no significance,
that colours know no limits,
that music uplifts the mind,
and that memories are places of
exploration, and the moment
is all we ever have.

 

 

Mountain

I navigate sharp twists,
confront rough trails,
steep slopes, swoon
at dizzying heights,
feel my frailty –

this path is for rugged,
mountain-born,
those accustomed
to the sheer immutable
force of  rock –

and yet, my lens
tells a different tale –
speaks of shadows
shifting, witnesses
mutations of colour

describes a giant
whose facade reflects
the day’s passing light,
demonstrates compassion
in earth’s stillness.

 

Watercolour

Introducing
colour to water
offering it up
to blank pages
learning less is better
and gentle strokes
elicit blossoming results

Introducing
colour to water
breathing life into
blank spaces
offering gentleness
to blossoming creativity
reveling in the delight.

(This poem was penned for the Story Circle’s Network
e-poetry group in response to February’s prompt – treasured
moments.”

 

Warning

We dream of knights
to lift us from our woes

men of steel, whose arms
hold us tight, protect us

for we are weak…wait,
what?  We’re not weak

lift ourselves up, thank you!
It is softness and encouragement

we seek, not dominant males
to oppress our spirits and wrestle

our hearts into submission –
we are not prey to be hunted,

trophies to be won – fend off
those who would swoop in

carry us away, for their intention
is to slay, then devour our essence.

(The Daily Post prompt is dominant.
Photo from personal collection)