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.