ORIENTAL BRUSH PAINTING

 

 

  

THE HAIKU BIRD

Sumi-e by Artist Ellee Avakian

Haiku by Barbara Malley

(1) SMILING, SHE NAMED HIM HAIKU.

                    On her rice paper
              The artist stroked a curved line. 
                 "It's a bird," she thought,

                  Observing the s-shape  
                 Forming beak and wing.
                

                 A dot for an eye, 
             A few bold strokes for his tail,
                And the bird was done. 
          
               What should she call him? 
             Smiling, she named him Haiku. 
                 It seemed to suit him. 

                 But soon she noticed
             How sad and quiet he seemed,
              Trapped on her sketch pad. 
                 She lifted her brush
             And painted an open door.
             

                                   "Farewell, little bird." 
             Haiku, joyous, stretched his wings 
                And flew through the door. 

        
                 Silently, he sped
            Toward his waiting native land,

                     The world of Nature.        

   


     

                 Here he found his voice,
             Singing his thoughts and feelings

                      in lyrical tones. 

                  The artist heard him,
             For he came to her in dreams
               and guided her paintbrush.



              

The Nectar Detector


Finding sweet nectar,

He dances his good tidings

In a bee's Morse Code.



(2)

     Is it possible

  This delicate cone will yield

    A mighty pine tree?






Heron
His beak a harpoon,
His legs a lookout tower,
He won't miss a meal.



   

          Masked panda bandits                                            

   Amble through a bamboo woods                       

                             Stripping trees of leaves.                                           




(3)

                          

                          An agile gibbon,

                         Acrobat of the forest, 

                        Swings from limb to limb.

    His prehensile tail

   Is as handy as a hand

   When out on a limb.



 Magical nature

  Changes silly pollywogs

   Into sober frogs.

                                                                         

       

(4)

                                                            

                
                  Two wide, watchful eyes

                  In a sheltering snowbank       

                     Seeing but unseen.

Rabbits, scattering,

Stretch the hinges of their legs

And spring to safety.

In a dappled glen,

Deer, spotted by Nature’s brush,

Outfox predators.

     Hippos on tiptoe

   Dance in a buoyant ballet

     Under the river.

    He rises early,

  Ready to reward the sun

  With his shrill good-day.

 

(5)

     In a grassy field

   Mushrooms rising overnight

     Make a fairy ring.

                       Wings a whirring blur,
       The hummingbird wears a veil

            Of shimmering gauze.

     Chattering sparrows

  Arrange themselves on a wire

    Like a string of beeds.

    Quails hunched together

    Share a warming blanket

      Of new fallen snow.

     Winter’s icy wand

  Turns cedars into maidens

   Dressed in ermine robes.



Sandpiper

                       Like a little boat,

                  He skims along the shoreline,

                      Bobbing and bowing.    

(6)

     A timid fledgling

   Flutters, falters on the brink,

    Then soars toward the sky.

    From his chrysalis

  The butterfly emerges--
   A stately monarch.

     A praying mantis

  Bows his head to feed upon

   A heedless victim.

    A small sea turtle

  Drifts along with the currents

   On her seaweed raft.

(7)

                        The cat, tail switching,

                    Crouches tiger-like, eyeing 

                          A placid goldfish.

                                                            

                      A motionless cat

                  Watches a woodland burrow.

                    Patience is her name.          

                                                          

         Concluding her meal,

      She starts her purring machine

         And leisurely bathes.                                     


       

The cat's eyes widen

 When her shy friend disappears

With one giant leap.

                                       

(9)

               
               HAIKU FINDS A MATE

                     Haiku rejoices!

             Now two voices are blended

                  In sweet harmony,

                  happily ever after 
                  in Nature's World. 

                      THE END

(8)

                    
                        The Hammerhead Shark      

              Patrols the sea, eyes on stalks

                     Like twin periscopes.
                   

 

                   Who says they can’t fly?

                   Penguins fly under water

                    With the sea their sky.
  

                                           As dusk approaches,

                A lonely chord is sounded

                   By the first cricket.
                                               

(10)

Afterword . . .

      

                           Sumi-e
                 With a few brief strokes

              The artist strives to capture

                  A subject’s essence,

                     Following a path

              Along which heart and hand

                  Move in harmony.

                PORTRAIT OF HAIKU

                 Dip your brush in ink,

             Make a small dot for the eye,

                  A “v” for his beak.

                 Add a sweep of wing

               Curving across his body

              With long stalks for legs.

              These few simple strokes,

            Journeying from heart to hand,

                 Show us less is more.

                    Look for new subjects

                    Ready to be discovered

                      By your inner eye.

                    Let your spirit roam. . .

                 The themes of nature await

                  The stroke of your brush.

  

                When you've read this book,

                Try to write your own haiku

                 And draw your own sketch.

                    It's really not hard:

                 Use seventeen syllables

                 To express each thought.

                  Five for the first line (5) 

               Then seven for the second (7)

                  And five for the last. (5)

  

                Think of Nature's World 

            And a subject that charms you--

               Tell us your daydreams.