Layers of Pigment Give Life

 


(Based on Nihonga painting style wherein layers of self made pigment from metallic substances are carefully and methodically applied)

Layers of Pigment 

“live in the layers/ not in the litter” Stanley Kunitz


Intrigued by the layers of precious pigment

applied in the Japanese nihonga style and aesthetic,

I gazed until the eyes of my soul

rested on an unlikely rainbow in malachite shards.

This rainbow shimmered and dimmed

In refracted rhythm with the sun’s certain movement.

Beauty.

Once realized, however,

I was consoled by an eternal rotation

Of invisible and visible phases

like the moon,

like grace.


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