Thunderstorm Below the Mountain
(after Hokusai)
Lacking humility, I take without thinking.
How far we’ve come, to look below for
lightning, the valleys shaken
with thunder, answers
like pebbles flung outward,
each to its own arc, separate
yet of one source, shaded into the question.
Is it for the scarcity of reach,
the reverse view through the bamboo rings
well out of sight, that
breath in the wave’s tuck or
smoke mingling with the clouds
and figures collecting salt,
that I edge myself closer, again,
to this place? To be nothing
presumes presence in absence.
Lacking humility, I accept without thinking.
“Thunderstorm Below the Mountain” first appeared here in March 2016.
O at the Edges 
Beautiful! Always loved Hokusai and any/all references to him. There is a shop in Toronto that sells actual Hokusai prints. I would love to own a mansion and fill it with ukiyo-e to look at all day and night…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hokusai inspires! My wife and I own a few woodblock prints by a local artist, Daryl Howard, who studied the technique in Japan. She’s wonderful. I’d love to own more, but we have a small house.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow; that’s a beautiful poem, Robert.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks very much, Randy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your imagery here amazes me, and this piece I could definitely place in my back pocket.
“To be nothing
presumes presence in absence.
Lacking humility, I accept without thinking.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Ivor. The imagery mostly comes from Hokusai’s art. I can get lost in his woodblock prints.
LikeLike
Pingback: Hail Atop The Mountain – stepsandpauses
Storms definitely make good muses
LikeLiked by 1 person
They do indeed, Candice.
LikeLike