the usual

the pleasure
of showing you the Poems
is the usual procedure

. . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure commentary is 'punta riversa.' This fencing term is from the Italian, but does not - the Oxford lads point out - appear in any Italian dictionaries. Perhaps OED really stands for Obscure English Dictionary.

This is the final version of painting posted yesterday (larger version on Flickr) and my entry to Waterworks 2012. With deadline tomorrow, no time for a new sketch!

with heart in mouth

little ornithological acrobats,
the Tit-mice

Watching,
with heart in mouth,
out of the window

. . . . . .

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


Still finishing up this painting of a Portland bridge on the Willamette, but it's close.

the critic

condescendingly remote,
the critic with Hideous aesthetic standards
caused you to toss out the original
. . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure commentary is 'Olympianly.' Not to be confused with 2012 London events, this is more a sarcastic reference to the heights of Mt. Olympus.

effort

practice gives rewards

I expect you
to welcome the effort
with a touch of class
. . . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure commentary is 'marksman.'

weekend

The ideal Weekend …
rhapsodies of peace

. . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure commentary is -- you knew it was coming! -- 'Olympism.'

a smile

a smile, my dear,
will make you happy

. . . . . .

[Oops! This was the July 15th post that didn't get  published.]

The OED word of the day for the erasure commentary is 'buss,' which meant to kiss. 

Tennyson used "buss'd" as the past tense, but -- with a distinct lack of poetry-- the Oxford lads declare it to be 'bust.'

patience

an absolute cure all is a
Farfetched Fable
So practice patience to ease pain

. . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure commentary is 'panacea.' Among the citations, suggested panaceas for all physical ailments include: vodka with salt (Russia), bloodletting (France) and coffee (Starbucks? No, actually 19th century England!)

The sketch was done yesterday morning, as the Tribal Canoes Paddle to Squaxin left from Alki Beach en route to Puyallup.

couches

reclining on couches
is a classical comfort
and a Science

. . . . . . .

The OED word of the day was 'accubation.'

Didn't pack water into Safeco Field, so had to rely just on paper til I got home and filled in a bit. It's nice to have something to do when the home team only gets three hits. Larger image here.

witness

so quiet and peaceable,
rising early,
writing from my heart

It was not even a good poem

however, It was
a True Witness 
to the mornin’

. . . . . . . .

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

My timeous arrival at Il Corvo Pasta, a two-burner operation housed on the Procopio Gelateria premises at Pike Place Market, scored me a terrace table to enjoy the excellent cavatelli and a glass of barbera.

memories

sentimental poems 
make you feel good …
memories reconstructed

. . . . . .

The OED word of the day is 'ooky,' a member of the icky family. It's been used to describe warm milk, philosophical problems and how a guy looks reading poems to his mother.  Quite the multipurpose adjective!

sardines

can clouds be packed into the sky
like sardines in a can?
july sky

. . . . . . .

The OED word of the day was 'onding,' which, given the weather the Brits are having is no surprise. It means to rain heavily.

You'd think there'd be a lot of citations, but only one (hence no poem from it). Possibly because the participle is ondinging. Which seems to start one's mouth dinging dinging dinging...

ladybug

a ladybug crawls
across my sketch

lucky

not to get glued down

. . . . . .

Collage sketch done of the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma with 32 other Urban Sketchers, some all the way down from Whidbey Island and up from Portland. Great fun! Larger image here.

at long last

the brightest Philosophical observations…where Summer appears

at long last

. . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure poem
| commentary is 'Altair,' a white star in the constellation Aquila that is the 12th brightest in the sky... if you're counting.

The flowers in Seattle are cowering from thunderstorms, so it's an indoor sketch today.

a journal

Satisfying

a Journal is desirable,
an original technique for visual authenticity

. . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure commentary is 'pseudorandom.'

usable debris

A poet scavenges
for usable debris
in the Now

any scrap of stuff they can find
lurking in a rain-affected Life

. . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure poem | commentary is 'mudlark.' I thought I was just going to read about birds, but a mudlark could also be a pig, a horse, a kid that plays in the mud, or a soldier in the Royal Engineers.  Hunh.

superstition

pretend prophets
encouraging superstition
in a magical tomorrow

. . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure poem | commentary is 'locoman,' which will be useful to you if you are ever looking for a clairvoyant in Suriname.

As for today's sketch, when all else fails, use one of the subscription postcards from a magazine!

60 minutes to sketch

trying to make any sort of sense of
The awkwardly symmetrical pieces

It was disastrous to have One Single Hour

. . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure commentary is the verb 'rhubarb.' So now we know that rhubarbing is what actors do to create a background murmur, but we still don't know why it's the word rhubarb they are repeating!

It was all happening at Hing Hay Park this weekend. Loved all the seniors in l - o - n - g lines for the free McDonalds smoothies and the Snoqualmie Casino bags. I had a kickass place to sketch, one of the few little tables in the park... until the lion dance started and everyone jammed several people deep in front of me. The elderly Chinese gent who was sharing my table gave me a little empathetic smile. Larger version here.

lavish

July firework display
more lavish than Roses
in summer

. . . . . .

The OED word of the day was 'Quatorze Juillet,' which was being fêted today at the Seattle Center.

practice

practice
in place of
mere principles,

The sincere
are protected.
Period.

. . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure commentary is 'Islamically.'

remedy

for relief of Stress,
The remedy is infallible 

a Garden Time Out 

. . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure commentary is 'acupuncture.'

This is a found paper collage (from the City Arts magazine I picked up at the café first & my ticket) of the Chihuly exhibit watercolor sketch. Larger image on Flickr.

unusual words

unusual words,
Difficult at the beginning,
Improve the Mind 
and delight solitary thinkers

. . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure commentary is -- finally! -- one I know: 'abstruse.'

Peggy and I went to the new Chihuly Garden & Glass. We were stunned that: (a) the interior exhibits were better than the garden, at least without mature landscaping; (b) they let Peggy in with her stool and let us sit in the corner of the Mille Fiori room and paint; and so, (c) the $15 is well worth it!  Larger sketch and photos on Flickr.

hope

there’s hope yet
4 good in Life,
so ‘ignore the manual’

. . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure commentary is 'nil desperandum,' i.e., "do not despair!" So many possible uses, so little time...

cruise ship

heading out of port
the cruise ship blocks out
the skyline if not the sun

. . . . . . .

I couldn't do an erasure of the OED word of the day, as it was a just a few words in one citation. But northwesterners need to have it in their vocabulary: imbriferous. It means rain-bringing or showery, as in 'the atmosphere had an imbriferous quality.'

Wimbledon

Wimbledon final—
the son still hasn't come out
for the Brits

seeking shade

in the forest —
seeking shade for relief
about twice a year

heat

the grey heron's not
the only one out wading today —
summer heat

memories

july fifth –
the beach littered with
burnt out memories

the sun

a law -
in July the sun
is the only concern

. . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure poem | commentary is 'autonomic,' which in its archaic sense of 'self-governing' or 'independent,' the erstwhile colonists will take as a subtle tip of the cap from Oxford.

Hope your July 4th sparkles!

cathedral

Poems abandoned
to divine mercy,
I drew scenes from life -
the whole world a Cathedral

. . . . . . .

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

Yes, you knew it had something to do with mercy and compassion, but did you know it was also a shelf on the underside of a seat in a  medieval choir stall which, when turned up, supported a person standing and/or the elaborate, often bawdy, carving of scenes from secular or religious life on said shelf? Ah, THAT is why the tenors are smiling.

comforter

Seattle's July —
the heavy down comforter
still on the bed

northwest summer

northwest summer —
going to the art store
for more Payne's gray

. . . . . . .

Today's haiku was inspired by Vicky's comment on the previous post. A bit of research finds that William Payne was a British watercolorist in the late 18th century and he came up with this useful neutral.

Dan Smith currently mixes the color out of ultramarine and ivory black; William used indigo, raw sienna and 'lake' (some kind of red), which sounds like a much richer sky. But it's still gray, which may explain why I'm more into Venetian red at the moment!