Ikebana (You without You)
Between frames, between presence and negation, authority.
If your body lies in the earth, why are you here?
Limits admired and sought: the way of the flower.
I pluck leaves from the lower half to achieve balance.
Shape and line detach, yet comprise the whole.
My father, awake in his chair, mourns quietly.
A naked twig forms one point of the scalene triangle.
Starkness implies silence, resonates depth.
Heaven, earth, man, sun and moon invoke your absence.
As you trickle through the interval’s night.
* * *
Ikebana is the art of Japanese flower arrangement.
This first appeared on the blog in March 2016, and is included in my mini-digital chapbook, Interval’s Night, published by Platypus Press in December 2016, and available via free download.
O at the Edges 
Thanks for reposting this, Robert. Moving. Powerful. I shall share.
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Thank you for your kind words. And for sharing!
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Pingback: O at the Edges, Robert Okaji, weaves powerful images with these words. – Commentary, Outrages, Prose
“As you trickle through the interval’s night…” great line!
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I seem to spend a good deal of my life in various intervals…
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Resonating with the quiet grief… Beautiful poem, Robert.
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Thanks very much, Betty.
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Graceful poem, thanks. I especially like the line “limits admired and sought: the way of the flower”
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Thanks, Jeff. Much appreciated.
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“Starkness implies silence, resonates depth.” Ah…great line…
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The flowers whisper such lines to us…
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I am familiar with ikebana. The amount of intention and reflection that go into ikebana, especially given the impermanence of the arrangement, manifests the traits of a true creator. Thank you for capturing this.
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Thank you. Ikebana fascinates me. I’ve played around at arranging flowers, but think I would enjoy spending some time at the craft (and art).
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I have not done it, but have been in the presence of a master arranging ikebana. True mindfulness.
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Definitely!
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