30 June 2010

lawnmower




Move aside crickets!
Tell everyone else too!
Here comes the lawnmower!





29 June 2010

phantom







If it behooves thee,
Phantom mosquito, please:
Have pity upon me!







28 June 2010

anxious





Trapped by small window,
I'm anxious for honeybee!
"Come,.. this way is out!"





27 June 2010

slumber




All night, jasmine dreams,
Tormented by your sweet scent,
Delicious slumber!







26 June 2010

empty







Investigation!
The Lizard probes empty space
Between two small stones.









25 June 2010

seeds







Selfish bachelor,
To where have your seeds been blown?
The empty mornings!





24 June 2010

parade




Butterfly parade,
All day watching with great envy,
Feeling left out.







23 June 2010

breakfast




Already,... sorrow!
Passing through my poor mind
just before breakfast.





22 June 2010

kissed







Upon the petal,
An oleander is kissed
by a white butterfly.







21 June 2010

cold






June's winter's breath
Still screaming through the empty sky,
The cold Mistral!







20 June 2010

night







The way to the compost bin,
Guided by honeysuckle
In the black of night









19 June 2010

heart







Haven't the heart
To clean kitchen sink,
The ants are using it.








18 June 2010

hesitation




Oleander rose,
Pair of white butterflies,
A hesitation.





17 June 2010

half-hidden





Between blackbird trees,
Hearing the hidden crickets!
Their summer debut.









16 June 2010

petals


And you, crippled rose!
Your petals no longer touched
By the morning sun.





12 June 2010

hairy





What's up honey bee?
Probing a thumb, meditating
My hairy finger?







11 June 2010

fled







Swept clean this night,
Rose blossoms fled the terrace,
The spring thunderstorm.









10 June 2010

blind faith



There is a wonderful anecdote which I recently came across. Matisse wanted to buy this small 'bathers' from Ambroise Vollard in the 1890's when he was almost destitute. He wanted it so badly but never imagined that he would have enough money to purchase it. He badgered Vollard for several years (who in the meantime had sold it to someone else but had since bought back from the same chap even cheaper than when he had sold originally.) (!) He finally relented and gave it to Matisse coupled with a contract to buy 12 paintings of his at a ridiculously low price. So Vollard, being a wily dealer, made out well but so did Matisse because he not only got his treasured Cezanne but also a deal to sell his paintings even if it wasn't at a great price. Through very lean times Matisse and his wife Amélie hung on to the Cezanne. They were extremely attached it and despite Cezanne's increasing worth over the years it never occurred to them to part with it. His wife Amélie had in fact pawned a family heirloom so that Matisse could buy it. Although she didn't know much about Art she understood what it meant to her husband. It seemed to be an act of blind faith for her, and for him. At his wife's suggestion he gave it to the city of Paris in 1937 and he said:

"In the thirty seven years since I have owned this painting I have come to know it fairly well though I hope not entirely. It has supported me morally at critical moments in my venture as an artist; I have drawn from it my faith and my perseverance."

I like this story because its not about money, but love of Art, which seems so rare these days.

09 June 2010

compost





Oleander bliss,
Hidden by compost heap,
Waits for admiration.









08 June 2010

honey




No pity for ant,
Locked in the honey jar, 
Overnight.





07 June 2010

wedding







Raining acacias,
Sky full of flower blossoms,
Where's the wedding?









06 June 2010

legs







Though dead for ages,
Resting on the coffee table,
My father's long legs.







05 June 2010

breakfast







Despite fragrant rose,
Breathing in anxiety, 
Alas! my breakfast!





04 June 2010

spring





Sweater of dead bugs!
After a bicycle ride,
An evening in spring.





02 June 2010

jasmine






My jasmine lover,
Your scent beckons my old body,
Twilight garden!







01 June 2010

Maupassant

From Maupassant's Pierre et Jean:

'What you have to do is look at what you wish to express long enough and with enough attention to discover an aspect of it that has never been seen or described by anyone before. There is something unexplored in everything, because we have grown used to letting our eyes be conditioned by the memory of what others have thought before us about whatever we are looking at.... To describe a blazing fire and a tree on a plain, we must stay put in front of that fire and that tree on a plain until for us they no longer resemble any other tree or any other fire. That is the way which you will become original.'