the subtlest film -
it moves
like gauze
in an open window.
moves across the light
in filament threads
woven into shade
threads and feathered wings
- soul wings
bound to the body -
painted
soft and grey
across the snow sky canvas.
oh stormy winds, bring up the clouds
and paint the heavens grey;
lest these fair maids of form divine
should angel wings display,
and fly far far away.
25 comments:
Ahhh...breathtaking!
How do you do it?
The marriage of your own writing with a sublime poem from East Asia?
Do you begin with the ancient poem and then photograph images to illustrate it and then write?
Do tell us again. It's magic.
so simple and so stunning...it almost looks like a table laid with a clean white cloth...dappled with the light from a window and awaitng afternoon tea to be set...beautiful steven...(ps I have cake!!! (see my blog today!!))
Amazing shadows, Steven.
We had some MINUTE snow particles here last night - smaller than the ones on your screen!
jenny i'm glad they surprised you also!! steven
hello dan! i take the photographs (and often the ones that appear here are culled from a larger group) and put them in the order i think they belong in. then i write my own words around them. whatever they suggest is what i write. often i get a sense of the insight they represent and i try to embed that in my writing. then i search for a complimentary piece of writing from "a writer". i like that element because it gives the piece more depth and ties my thinking to someone else's thinking. it's almost like swimming from the side of a pond towards its centre. you can feel the water giving way beneath you. there you go! steven
kay - i have cake also!! a remnant from a grade gith girl sleepover that took place here on the weekend. a chocolate allspice cake that i banged up for them to go with their pizza and pop! steven
hello caroline - that's about the same as our experience. there's lots of snow on the ground but it's old snow and we get those very tiny flakes like you see on the screen and that's about it. steven
Shades of grey can be exquisite in every way. Yet so often we rush past them reaching for the concrete poles of black or white. I love to rest in the grey at times - it is soft and spacious.
hi bonnie - i agree. i learned to appreciate shadows all over again when i visited reya's blog and saw how she saw them. it was a revelation! have a peaceful day. steven
Untrampled snow, textured only through the shadows of the trees. Wonderful images here, Steven.
these are gorgeous monochrome shadows and work beautifully with the words
Subtle, ephemeral and just plain brilliant Steven.
I was just looking at your shadows in the snow and wondered about the color and what will be there in green this summer.
I also left a comment on my blog in response to your comment...
Steven...
Libraries are fabulous places. I worry, though, that they will come up missing and the Internet will replace them in some way not known now. I used to go to the old Carnegie library in Greenville, Ohio where Annie Oakley had grown up. It was a typical cigar place with green light shades hanging down over round oak tables in the reading room. Newspapers were in racks. Lots of old men, puffed on cigars, sat there and read the newspapers. And when I walked in there as a kid, the blue smoke filled the room from floor to ceiling.
Abe Lincoln Blogs
What a stark juxtaposition with yesterday's pictures, which were all sharp and defined and shot through with color. These look almost like a dream sequence. I like!
These photos unzip my brain- fresh air and clear thought- these photos! Of course your writing always makes me swoon and sigh and carry on like some mentally deficient git. You are so lucky that I don't live next door!
Gads, this is good!
It took quite some staring to realise what the photographs were of, I thought it was a window blind at first.
elisabeth it was twenty eight below zero celsius. i was with my class when these pics were taken. there are thirty pre-teenagers somewhere very close!!! i saw these and was entranced. thanks for your generous comments. steven
hey crafty green thanks. i like the grey scale every so often. it's so soft and kind and i see details that i otherwise miss. steven
barry i'm not good with rich compliments from people i admire so excuse me while i hide!!! steven
abe i try and try - i'm fifty three this year - to remember places filled with smoke. i know i was there, i know i saw it, i know i smelled it but i simply can't remember!!! there'll be lots of green grass and small bushes that my students will plant whwre those pics were taken abe. we're planning it in the class to get us through the chilly days. steven
i hadn't really looked at that juxtaposition until you mentioned it here and then wham!! you're right! hang on tight folks!!! steven
linda sue - it's the spaces between the 1's and 2's the balck and white that i really love. the grey scale fits right in there. so what if you lived next door!! i could use some life on the one side - with all due respect to the earnest fellow who calls it home!!! ha! move in. steven
Hi Steven
Your shadows of grey and soft quiet are so peaceful. I particularly like the last image - it does seem like a gossamer silken fabric...
Happy days
Lovely, gauzey, angel winged snow!
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