Friday, March 30, 2012

Game #5 - In A Book of Paintings

Please use a book for this game,
though it may require of trip to a library or bookstore.

Just as the reproduction of a painting in a book
is no substitute for the painting itself,
the image of a painting on the screen
of a computer monitor is substitute
for neither the image in the art book nor the painting itself.

Because I am concerned with books as entities
(and because the painting may be a metaphor for the poem),
for the purposes of this game, a book should be used,
and not a visit to an art museum or art gallery.

In a book of paintings, find a painting that you like
but with which you were previously unfamiliar.
Use the title of that painting for the title of your poem.
Write an 8 line poem, with 8-syllables per line.
Your poem may or may not reference the painting

5 comments:

  1. The Mie River, near Yokkaichi

    the wind blows one man's hat back from
    where he came while the other pushes on
    into the invisible force,
    his head bowed and cloak billowing
    behind as he clutches it closed
    tightly under his stalwart chin
    a walking stick used for balance

    -bending reeds laugh on the shoreline

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  2. I really like this poem! I recently acquired two collections of Hiroshige prints, and have spent some time paging through them. But for some reason I did not think to go to those books for this exercise. I'm glad you did! Something in your poem echoes something of the music in those prints. Very nice.

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  3. my daughter has a bokk of Asian art, that's where I found this.
    Is this one in one of the books you have?

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  4. the books I have are
    One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
    and Hiroshige: Birds and Flowers.

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