TheNewVerse.News : LESSONS FROM A CHINESE PAINTER

Thursday, July 21, 2005

LESSONS FROM A CHINESE PAINTER

OR,
WHY WE ARE LOST IN IRAQ

by James Penha

LESSON ONE

To paint Cold Mountain
in great detail
I meticulously sketch before

fine lines in pencil
as carefully as a physician
plans surgery on the emperor.

I judge
and adjust;
I erase and revise.

Only when the Mountain
is satisfied
do I ink and brush.

One landscape
can take
a season.

LESSON TWO

To paint Cold Mountain
with a free hand,
sense and soul,

its place,
in a moment,
takes a lifetime.

James Penha edits The New Verse News. He is just back from China where he took lessons from a Chinese painter.

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Thursday, July 21, 2005

LESSONS FROM A CHINESE PAINTER