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Zen shadows



ZEN SHADOWS

 

The canvas stands pure white

the lights of sun made clear

and there in front of you a challenge

attack the dream with paint.

 

Zen monks out in their gardens

there to contemplate

and having mused, 

their mind meditate,

came back to grab the brush;

 

within the hour of thought 

the moment 

of creative energy, 

flashed its mark

with swift dance,

loaded brush,

 

the sound

of rushes in the breeze;

 

a painting 

as if from fleeting shadows 

seized

made permanent,

made beautiful,

a message from deep within a human soul

expressing its sudden insight

of a world beyond,

enlightened,

sound.

 

Reflecting understanding 

of all nature's movements

seasons, dreams

and flounces of psychology, 

revealed in black

and white

now sealed.

 


— Nordic cloud, Jan 02, 2010

About This Poem

About the Author

Region, Country: Oslo and Flatdal, Norway., NOR

Favorite Poets: Too daunting this.

More from this author

Critiques

Seren

Seren

16 years 5 months ago

Wow Ann this is just

Wow Ann this is just beautiful I am speachless sorry i dont have anything intelligable to say ... let my stars shine for you love and hugs and much respect Jayne x x x
Nordic cloud

Nordic cloud

16 years 5 months ago

I love you speechless

Your smile descries it all your love for other's wondrous and beautiful, you deserve the stars for breakfast, the sun for dinner too, and then you couldn't even make a better you, you lovely, lovely person out there in the blue and in hues of bright Australia, we love you. Just Ann and thank you for your unspoken words!
Seren

Seren

16 years 5 months ago

Dear AnnI came back but

Dear Ann I came back but still found i didnt have words that do this justice ... still ... I am sorry just beautiful dear lady Love and mountains of hugs Jayne-Chloe x x x x
Nordic cloud

Nordic cloud

16 years 5 months ago

To be able to understand and

To be able to understand and express it in such a comment as this means that you see and have understood the essence of the thought., and if in the past have not contemplated things can do so now, as in so doing one experiences the vast wonder that is our world. Not always sure I fit the bill either, but meditation is second nature to us poets, without the need for mats or special mantras, we are in the world of dreamed reality at the same time as reality's dream, are we not? And in so being we tap the world, its spirit, the winds of sensations sometimes hidden from view but always present. I shall hasten to look at your pages now, thank you for this comment, I just wrote it off and have not worked on it, it is a little passing thought. Love Ann
Geezer

Geezer

16 years 5 months ago

My Meditation...

I used to think that meditation took a long time to achieve after quiet and emptying your mind. Now I realise that anytime you LET your mind focus on a single point, you can achieve a meditive state. I love your works, my Queen. I love your mind. Many times after reading one of your pieces, I contemplate the scene you have shown us, and my mind focuses on that and I see so clearly what you have painted. I love that you had them painting in black and white. It shows the state of mind being like a ying and yang symbol. The thing that signifys the world of Zen. The new year is starting off with your poetry being better than ever. Long Live The Queen! ~ Sir Gee
M

magics02

16 years 5 months ago

Beauty and wonder..to meditate..

Anna my snowlady I just love your write here as meditation is of mind, body, spirit and soul and something wonderful to do..I hope you think of birds also and the snow on the hilltops....Your a genius Love Magics02 xx0x0x0x
WF

Worldwide Freeride

16 years 5 months ago

Masterful as the masterpiece...

Daer Ann, This is really amazing piece of writing... for not only does it energise the feeling, imagination and creativity of some one with artistic flair to paint, sculpt or empathise their visuals in a stylish and vibrant style it reflects on your own masterfulness. You have placed vivid images of a multitude of shaded swirls and coloured blemishes that stroke the canvas, in wild and splendid ways... and there we can see the spark within you Ann, a flame that kindles and flashes in blazes of wonder to write this! Your brilliant pen has crafed such a beautiful prose poem and has blended seemlessly other arts as it transmutes from pencil to pen to paint with stylish ease. Rather incredible Ann and a testiment to your finesse as a writer and artist as well... those monks must have being chanting a powerful mantra to stir such things in to being. Bravo! Dale :)
O

Orphani

16 years 5 months ago

My life has taught me most

My life has taught me most of which exists is not in what you see but in what you don't see. An understanding of this illusionary state amplifies ones awareness Light shadow perspective texture ie how can one define ones true size?Reletive to an atomic structure or the vast universe these are poetic considerations through the empowerment of the imagination. I know you are with me on this sister. You carry all these qualities in your work. Do you do much reviseing? B PS, at the time I'm writing this you made SPOT. congrats. sister.
Nordic cloud

Nordic cloud

16 years 5 months ago

I do not have to revise and

I do not have to revise and I wasn't thinking of anything specific when this poured out just as it stands unaltered. But behind it through the years the knowledge of the 'how others SEE' is imprinted along with that of one's own observance and these two correlate into a synthesis of thought that forms what we write. The many combinations of ideas always ruminating in the mind make a shape just right to be born just now. I too can be surprised at the shape, that seems sometimes to be what one calls intuitive, whatever that really means, it just is, inside one's mind and when it is ready explodes in a moment of joy onto the 'page' and must be written down immediately by me before it has escaped to the perifery of my vision and moved itself, in butterfly uneven flight, into the shadows again to be rehashed among other elements lying latent to be used. I don't know what do you think? Barry of the mind's thought processes. Ann of Norway with love.
M

magics02

16 years 5 months ago

SHARED SENTIMENTS MY SNOWLADY

I SHARE YOUR VISION SNOWLADY AND THAT IS ALSO ME. GOT A THOUGHT, PEN AND PAPER AND STAY WITH IT TILL THE LAST WORD, AND SIGH INSIDE... BLESSINGS XOXOXOLOVE MAGICS02
DawningDaytripper

DawningDaytripper

16 years 5 months ago

That was an awesome example

That was an awesome example of painting poetry Ann. Thank you SO much for sharing that. It was a nice and flowing with great description. Not a ryhme to be seen. Enlightned, respectful, appreaciative. And in return I feel all of those things. How amazing. Julie D.D.
B

bjp

16 years 5 months ago

Dear Margaret Ann,

Congratulations on getting the spotlight! Brian
A

AnyakoPrincess

16 years 5 months ago

amazing

I find that poetry is at its best when it forms pictures in your head. Whether or not my images are your images, they should be formed regardless. We are artists in black and white. I loved it. It is beautiful.
Nordic cloud

Nordic cloud

16 years 5 months ago

Thank you, it is the soul,

Thank you, it is the soul, the spirit of painting, (and poetry), the act of creating that moves you, it is there to catch, to find, to feel, to see in nature and in the expressions of great lovers of nature, like the Taoists and those Zen monks who contemplated it with such intensity that they became the leaf, the tree, the flower themselves. "Butterfly, these words from my brush are not flowers, only their shadows." ......Soseki. "Behind me the moon brushes a shadow of pines lightly on the floor.".........Kikaku. "Lightly a new moon brushes a silver haiku on the tips of waves."........Kyoshi. How wonderful. Ann of Norway. P.S. Black is a revered COLOUR in the East!
Nordic cloud

Nordic cloud

16 years 5 months ago

Anna Kailashana KNOWS; she

Anna Kailashana KNOWS; she is the epitome of understanding and I can see her now with a Buddha smile on her face looking on all this with her fine golden wings glinting in the morning sun, she knows, she knows it all and is sovereign of the skies of eastern cultures and expressions. Dear sister Anna of the ephemeral poetry of life. You have no need to come here, I mean it!
Kailashana

Kailashana

16 years 5 months ago

Ha. I’m still doing it…

Ha. I'm still doing it... thinking I send the remark and then find out not... Anyhow if I remember correctly, I said something like this: Ha! You think my overinflated poet's ego would disallow me from commenting on a poem called Zen Shadows? I think not. Dearest sister from the Northern Lights, I'm reminded of a poem in the beginning of the 1967 Moody Blues album "Days of Future Passed.": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgakV8o8yJM&feature=PlayList&p=981A1315EEE9E53B&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=4 Cold hearted orb that rules the night, Removes the colours from our sight, Red is gray and yellow white, But we decide which is right. And which is an illusion? Pinprick holes in a colourless sky, Let insipid figures of light pass by, The mighty light of ten thousand suns, Challenges infinity and is soon gone. Night time, to some a brief interlude, To others the fear of solitude. Brave Helios wake up your steeds, Bring the warmth the countryside needs. love, your sister from Ohio
L

lyz

16 years 5 months ago

Oh my

A wonderful poem dear Ann. And I bet the guys love it also. Relaxing and a great title. Good on you. Love Lyz. XX
M

magics02

16 years 5 months ago

I second

I second you dd on that one. shall we motion the courts on this kind of behavior? LOL probably meant it to go to someone else as our snowlady also might just like the indian arts. Stay warm and Anna you too snowlady. love Magics02 xoxoxoxoox
Nordic cloud

Nordic cloud

16 years 5 months ago

I make my own cards as some

I make my own cards as some of you know, but Indian things are good. In spite of that I don't like either getting mail with ads, or as here, it is so out of place if it had relevance to what I wrote or in some way enhanced a criticism of a poem then it could be all right but otherwise it should be banned, advertising, if it has to come out, must be in another form, even a private message with a " I think these might interest you if not never mind" note with them? That's my opinion. Ann
M

magics02

16 years 5 months ago

Agreed

Judge Magic says banging her malet on the podium, case dismissed, do not let it happen again. Yes no one should be submitting ads, less I put my Avon lady ads on here.. Avon calling is there anyone home?? Love to you Snowlady will talk soon xxoxoxox magics beauty supplies (lol)