Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Then & Now

A large basket
carrying Life
and on each side,
tied like a pair:

Then & Now


The Day,
neatly packed ...
and full of this delightful Sun

. . . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure poem is 'pannier.'

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

fragments of shells

Love

in water and air and Rain
and the fragments of shells

best to be present

. . . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the poem|commentary is 'roach.'

I steeled myself to spend time with it, but it wasn't that kind of roach. This was the obsolete, British mining kind of roach, meaning seam or bed, as in a roach of coal. It's really quite amazing, the English language - and those OED guys are certainly a thorough bunch.

Monday, June 28, 2010

June, smiling

the conceit
of June,

Smiling the world

a Dark shining green

. . . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure poem was 'supercilious.'

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Murphy's law

Murphy's sketching law:
the boat you are drawing is
the one rowed away

. . . . . . . .

Seattle UrbanSketchers were at the Center for Wooden Boats today. Sunday is 'get a free sail' day, so there were a lot of visitors. A small one saw us scattered around the grounds and asked, "Is it Artist's Day?"

Sweetie, every day...

Saturday, June 26, 2010

go walk

go walk.

Drawing
you will tumble home

the sun shines

continue walking
Draw

Depression is drawn away

. . . . . . . .

Today's OED word of the day for the erasure poem|commentary is 'middle line.'

Friday, June 25, 2010

grace

Grace

accepted Easily
so as to part with it...

like a cobweb
weaving of Sighs

. . . . . . . .

Today's erasure poem|commentary, as always, was extracted from the OED word of the day online: 'slenderly.'

Thursday, June 24, 2010

never knowing

never knowing
when a tree will fall
across our path

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

art of nature

Art must hint
of the most sublime of Nature
in silence

this good weather might permit
a magnificent opportunity

. . . . . . . .

The word of the day in the OED is 'pretermit.' Nothing like a legal term as a basis for an erasure poem, though it did offer more possibilities than 'nanocomputer' earlier in the week!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

wobbling

first day of summer —
wobbling on the bike

Monday, June 21, 2010

summer solstice

seattle solstice —
sixteen hours of daylight
to view the clouds

Sunday, June 20, 2010

vuvuzelas

last day of spring —
even vuvuzelas
can't scare up the sun

Saturday, June 19, 2010

a mere beginning

In response
to rocks and the sea,
bows on the path -
300 a mere beginning.

. . . . . . . .

On day 300 of "Picturing and Poeting," the online OED is down for maintenance. That's just wrong.

So, today's erasure poem|commentary comes from the plot section of the Wikipedia entry for the movie "300."

Thanks to you all who are moseying down this path with me, and a special bow of thanks for your comments and support!

Friday, June 18, 2010

shining solitudes

undulating motion
the shining solitudes of the Sea
and a ship

. . . . . . . .

Having jumped the time zone gun yesterday, the OED word of the day for this erasure poem is still "winding."

Today was a Seattle Plein Air meetup at Fisherman's Terminal. As I've said before, it's now my favorite place to sketch. Besides 10,000 sketchable views, the fishermen who stop to check out your portrait of their ship are always a gas. A guy from the Coral came over to chat today.

Told me what I did was hard!
"Compared to THAT?" I asked, pointing at the ship.

Yep, he thought so. He said sanding was really relaxing (ah, "chop vegetables, sand deck"), and that the most dangerous part of going in and out of Alaskan inlets was getting conked with a piece of equipment. Guess I've seen too much of the Discovery Channel!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

meandering line

turning this way and that
into solitude
a line requires unwearied attention

happy are those who nurse
the sinuous, meandering line
of a drawing

. . . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure poem|commentary is "winding."

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

running in the thunder

It is spirit or breath...
running in the thunder
and after it is imagined
the essence
becomes a painting

. . . . . . . .

The online Oxford English Dictionary word of the day for the erasure poem is 'resistant.'

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

plenty

Admiral Theatre, in West Seattle, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989under the door
comes June,
perpetually supplying plenty

. . . . . . . .

Today's OED word of the day is 'warped.'

Erasing other parts of the entry, I could have created a description for West Seattle's Admiral Theatre, on the National Register of Historic Places and built, from what I can gather, in 1919: "wood ...twisted by dampness."

Monday, June 14, 2010

embrace the colors

the call to walk,
wandering here and there,
to Get out of my house,
to Sketch.

The days as peaceful as
the soft white clouds.

who can but embrace?
the Colors.
In June.

. . . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure poem is the verb 'troop.'

Sunday, June 13, 2010

bedecked

ladies bedecked
on a summer sunday
in eau de varnish

Saturday, June 12, 2010

curious

to make a song...

it took becoming curious
about Paradise

. . . . . . . .

Today's OED word of the day for the erasure poem is 'nationalize.'

Friday, June 11, 2010

moment of elegance

on the Duwamish
a moment of elegance
passes too quickly

Thursday, June 10, 2010

honeysuckle

suddenly the walk
wasn't such an effort —
honeysuckle

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

mental sunshine

light between showers:
A brief gleam of mental sunshine.

. . . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure poem is 'blink.'

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

SPLAT!

with eyes only
for the lavender rhody
SPLAT! in the mud

Monday, June 7, 2010

Life whispered

Summer —
Life whispered its own name

. . . . . . . .

The erasure poem is from the OED word of the day: monosyllabic.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

a sea of pink

a sea of rain-soaked pink
going and komening
on second avenue

Saturday, June 5, 2010

lively walks to the Forest,
and Up the hill

Let your Muse
take breath,
drink the Sun...

the senses, tickled now,
dance rapidly and into the ditch with a bump.

. . . . . . . .

The annual 10K walk at the Weyerhaeuser Rhododendron Garden is always fabulous (even if I did make a wrong turn and do a 12K). This bass mailbox was along the route. My sketch was sped up by the three barking dogs defending it, including the silky terrier crawling up my leg.

The OED word of the day for the erasure poem is 'gallop.'

Friday, June 4, 2010

the heart enfolded

the heart enfolded

June

an emotional whorl of ferns
and small flowers
arched upwards

. . . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure poem is involucre.

And, even though Bill Gates owns Da Vinci's Codex Leicester, I felt better that Word didn't recognize it either.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

deep creek

deep forest
reflected in deep water —
the creek of old wood

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

the recollection to open

Magic

When Leaves
Release the recollection to open

and an outflow
of light begins
and unlocks spring

. . . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure poem is 'detente.'

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

sudden shower

a sudden shower
in a Sketch-book

and afterward the Sun
painted wet and soft

. . . . . . . .

Today's OED word of the day is 'mud,' a concept feared and loathed by watercolorists. However, the OED was defining the verb 'mud' in this case.