Saturday, September 26, 2020

Butterfly Dream: Sumi-E Class Haiku by Michael Henry Lee

English Original

sumi-e class
on the tip of a brush
the crow's song

bottle rockets, 39, 2018

Michael Henry Lee


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

日本水墨畫課
在畫筆的尖端
烏鴉的頌歌

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

日本水墨画课
在画笔的尖端
乌鸦的颂歌


Bio Sketch

Michael Henry Lee  lives in St. Augustine Florida with his wife, rescue cat, and several bonsai trees. His work has appeared in numerous print and on line journals including: Heron's Nest, Frogpond, Modern Haiku, and A Hundred Gourds among others. His second book, Against the Grain, received Honorable Mention in the 2013 Mildred Kanterman Book Awards.

1 comment:

  1. L1 sets the theme/scene while the shift, from visual to auditory, in L3 provides dreaming room for the reader's imagination and reflection.

    And thematically and technically speaking, Michael's sumi-e (Japanese ink painting) haiku reminds me of one of my Chinese ink painting haiku:

    "what's left undrawn ..."
    the sound of the pine breeze
    in his ink painting

    Wednesday Haiku, 190, September 3, 2014

    FYI: Ink wash painting/Ink painting (Chinese: 水墨畫) is a type of Chinese brush painting that uses black ink – as used in Chinese calligraphy – in different concentrations, and it is usually done on xuan paper.

    ReplyDelete