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 
Hi Robert,
Thank you very much for composing your excellent poem. I would like to reciprocate with my special post published at https://queenslandorchid.wordpress.com/2015/06/17/ikebana-lessons-with-orchids-minimalist-flower-arrangement/
Please enjoy and happy June to you!
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An illuminating post! Thanks very much for sharing it.
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You are very welcome, Robert! 🙂
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I love the trickling through the intervals of night! Fathers will tend to do that after they are gone!
Dwght
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I hope to continue trickling long after I’m gone! 🙂
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Perhaps we will!!
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Ikebana, the subtle art of loving perfect chaos. Love it Bob.
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Ha! As long as it’s perfect. Or nearly so. 🙂
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