Poetry Corner: Japanese Garden

POETRY CORNER

– 9/21/16

Hosted by Kathabela Wilson

♣ We welcome and encourage your response especially in the form of short poems. You may reply by leaving a comment below.

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Golden fish at the Storrier Stearns Garden (Photo – Rick Wilson).

Peggy Castro

golden fish
source of secrets
in the sacred pool

Buddha at sunset
time to let go
of weary concerns
time to let go
of this ancient world

lovely lotus
first the mud
then the soul

Peggy Castro lives in Alhambra, but finds her true home in our local gardens.

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Storrier Stearns Garden (Photo – Rick Wilson).

Jonathan Vos Post

Japanese garden­­
exquisite beauty
why do I
clad in denim
look at my wristwatch?

Throw my shoes
in the river
Throw my hat
in the wind
and now, my bones

One day we start
being ourselves
in a hidden garden

Jonathan Vos Post is a poet, scientist, and artist living in Altadena, CA.

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Storrier Stearns Garden in Pasadena (Photo – Rick Wilson).

> Each Thursday is a public Open Day at the Storrier Stearns Garden. Poets on Site group meets to read and workshop poems and be inspired by this amazing “hidden garden”, a cultural treasure of Pasadena. From 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., visitors can hear sounds of different flutes from the collection of Caltech math professor emeritus Rick Wilson (who provided all the photos for the corner this week.) He moves do different parts of the garden as the poets write and walk for inspiration. Each week, the poets prepares a flyer for visitors to take home, of poems and a photo and description of the flute being played that day. So far, Rick has played shakuhachi (Japanese flute), Native America Mohave desert flute, Irish flute, and European renaissance flute. This Thursday, September 22, 2016, Rick will play shinobue, a small traditional transverse Japanese bamboo flute.

The two featured poets today, Jonathan Vos Post and Peggy Castro, wrote their haiku and tanka (Japanese inspired forms) at the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden. Poets on Site group, headed by Kathabela Wilson, is grateful to the garden setting and especially honored to welcome James Haddad, owner of the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden and a fine poet, to their meetings.

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Art Fair in the Japanese Garden Fundraiser

Saturday, Sept. 24, 5:00 p.m.
The Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden will be transformed into a unique open-air gallery for its first annual “Art Fair in the Garden”. More details here.