Man’yoshu Poetry? (What’s that?) With Ladybug
I swore to myself (and this blog) that I would devote at least some of this month to a modified Nanowrimo of revising old manuscripts. But… it’s really hard to get the steam up for a long project mid-work-week. So, instead, here is my contribution to dVerse Poets “Form For All” Night, which today focuses on Man’yoshu poetry, a form of Japanese Poetry that includes variations dedicated to love/longing. There is a wonderful exposition of this particular tradition written by “Lady Nyo” a/k/a Jane Kohut-Bartels, that can be found here.
I’m afraid my picture turned out better than my poem, but here’s my own rough attempt:
Ladybug On Navy Shawl
A ladybug, deep
orange, lands on the navy
of my paisleyed shawl;
mountains uplift the view but,
because I cannot
see through eyes that turn green when
faced with color, I
mean, your eyes, all here pales, and
my mind looks past the
now to times when you watched it
with me, when the here,
because you were there, held such
wonders always, your quick breaths.
Tags: iPad art, Japanese choka, Japanese poetry, Lady Nyo, ladybug on shawl poem, Ladybug poem, Man'yoshu Poetry, manicddaily, ManicDDaily poetry
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ManicDDaily 
November 3, 2011 at 7:59 pm
Very nice verse and picture accompaniment.
November 3, 2011 at 8:44 pm
i’m guessing that the picture stimulated the poem. or did you photoshop the picture, to go with the poem. very cool either way.
November 3, 2011 at 9:47 pm
Ha! No, poem came first. I did the picture on iPad with Brushes App. Thanks for reading and commenting. K .
November 3, 2011 at 9:53 pm
Love the poem – don’t it make my green eyes blue – OK I’m being silly but I am green with envy you can get your brushes picture on your computer. How? Through itunes? Do you turn them into jpgs?
Oh, yes, also…so glad you wrote and linked with us tonight because I liked your painting and your poem very much!
November 3, 2011 at 10:38 pm
Hi Gay, Thanks. I do almost all my own art on the blog except that the current header (painting with moon) is by my husband, Jason Martin. I used to do actual paintings and drawings and photograph them and then upload them onto the computer (which was kind of a pain) but last spring I got a wonderful iPad 2. There are lots of really good painting/art apps for the iPad 2 but my favorite is the Brushes App which is a painting, or fingerpainting program (though it also works with a soft stylus.) You can draw right on the touch screen–there are lots of choices of brush strokes, though you draw with your finger or the soft stylus. The app then lets you immediately send it to your photos as a jpg. The iPad has a WordPress App that allows you to directly upload the painting onto your blog.
I really love the Brushes App. It is, of course, not the same as doing a real watercolor, but I don’t have a studio set up so it is very fast and convenient. Also, you can use photographs both in your finished piece, or you can use them as templates and then delete them. The app also allows you to do the painting in “layers” which allows for a lot of flexibility and makes it more like a true painting.
You can also get the Brushes App on the iPhone and I actually did a bunch of paintings on that, but the size required you to constantly zoom in and out. The iPad 2 is much easier.
Thanks for your interest. I sometimes miss doing real paintings, but I am pretty busy and it’s terrific to be able to do these on the subway or train or wherever. K.
November 3, 2011 at 11:35 pm
Amazing art–really enjoyed your explanation–it boggles my mind that was done on a touchscreen–and a lovely love poem as well–that last line is perfect.
November 4, 2011 at 9:49 am
super.i reaaly liked this and am very impressed. you write extremely well. great words choices, line work, images, and heart.
November 4, 2011 at 10:39 am
Thanks so much, Henry.
November 4, 2011 at 10:41 am
My mind looks past the now…
Splendid line!
November 4, 2011 at 11:51 am
Thanks, Margaret!
November 4, 2011 at 12:43 pm
i got the brushes app on my ipad but well…my drawings look “different”..ha…not to say horrible..smiles
yours is beautiful..love your words going with the drawing..mind looking past now..beautifully done
November 4, 2011 at 1:00 pm
Hi Claudia, thanks much. I have to say I really love the brushes app–one thing that’s helped me is that I got a small stylus–they cost about $10 on amazon, and I think that price of one is good. (I got one more expensive one which was very heavy and not worth the extra money.) It is not quite like drawing with a pencil as you can’t rest your wrist on the touch screen, but it is easier than just using a finger. Also, I sometimes combine the Brushes App with the Photogene App, which has various filters. Every once in a while a filter can be quite nice especially if you are reusing a drawing but want it to look different. I also find I need Photogene to rotate and crop the drawing which I can’t do on Brushes. K.
November 4, 2011 at 1:53 pm
my mind looks past the now …
Oh, yes!
November 4, 2011 at 4:54 pm
Nice art work.. and quick breaths…nice ending lines ~
November 4, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Such wonders indeed, thoroughly enjoyable.
November 4, 2011 at 8:30 pm
I like this:
“because I cannot
see through eyes that turn green when
faced with color”
November 5, 2011 at 8:01 am
A most beautiful poem, and I love that it’s all one run-on sentence. I like the painting too.
November 5, 2011 at 2:08 pm
nice…i really like the final lines of this…such wonder always, paired with your quick breathes works well…i also like the green eyes and symbolism there…though i do have green eyes…
November 5, 2011 at 2:24 pm
a ladybud landing on your shawl, …magical moment captured,
love the details in colors of eyes and feelings upon the incident.
very cute piece.
😉
November 25, 2011 at 8:36 am
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