木漏れ日 — Nothing Under the Sun
木漏れ日
Nothing Under the Sun
“Komorebi is a living painting, unframed,
still wet. It will touch you sometimes.”
— Coleman Davis
“He promised to give a light to him
and to his sons for ever.”
— Hebrews 6:7b
They are dancing. Look at the way
their silhouettes are shifting stages
of stagnancy—
—so distracting, so
intoxicating the downward spiral
of shadows masquerading verity
& veracious semblance of this
life.
Nothing is as beautiful as despair,
they say; anything is possible when
deception conceives desperation
begets choice.
But what is the finite
distance between Plato’s Cave &
Komorebi’s ballet? Can you measure
a minute beat amid the minuet
of meaning of
a life? Nothing
under the Sun is meaningless;
everything is a season & a secret
& still
wet. The body knows
the difference between seduction
& connection &
release.
Linger, here, my Love—
& know & be ye known in this
sweet truth: That even shadows
are the proof, the awkward hope,
the scions & the genesis
of light.
16 thoughts on "木漏れ日 — Nothing Under the Sun"
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Gorgeous poem.
Notice in your remarks to Coleman earlier today that you were inspired by his line that you use as epigraph. Glad to see its fruition.
Love how the two epigraphs sets the frame of this poem painting!
Love this question: “Can you measure/a minute beat amid the minuet/of meaning of/a life?
This line speaks volumes: “everything is a season & a secret
& still/wet.
What’s crazy is…a separate of his lines promoted a poem that took me days to explore onto the page.
His today used some of the same language (not to assume mine did anything for him). But I had to come back and respond, albeit it indirectly, to his new one.
The man has me a’thinkin’!
Thank you, Pam!
Even before reading it, I can appreciate the beauty of its form. The whole thing makes me think of a particular move I learned contra dancing one time called ‘the gypsy meltdown,’ one of my favorites. This poem makes me feel like I’m in the middle of such a dance.
Thank you, P.C.!
I wanted it to!! From the first line that lisped from my fingertips.
So glad it caught a glimpse of that feeling inside me.
Thank you for reading and replying 💙
This is beautiful! Your understanding of komorebi is accurate and appreciated. Thanks for citing Coleman.
Thank you, Linda ☺️
And cite him?
Hellz, I wanna buy him a drink 🙏
Watch Perfect Days, a 2023 film by Wim Wenders. It’s beautiful and refers to komorebi a lot. It’s in Japanese but absolutely accessible.
Yes, ma’am!
Lololololololol. It has been an honor to write in the sand with you this year.
The old renga form was a poem wrapped around a brick and sent from poet to poet. Some reached to 100s of lines in length.
“Art inspires art, and art”
Hahaha! I love that!
I like to think they were tossed through windows, shattering any semblance of separation!
Thank you sir. Sentiment mutual
I’d love to hear this one, especially, read aloud.
Thank you, Nettie 🙏
This one would be fun to read.
The rhetoric and form of this piece is so tight and effective. I love “Can you measure/a minute beat amid the minuet/of meaning…”
Thank you, Shaun 💙
Such strong craft here, Joseph Allen Nichols. Elements of title, structure, flow, speak as one to me. This is even more stunning as I read your poem out loud. Admirable
Thank you L. Sipe!