s w i f t s  &  s l o w s: a quarterly of crisscrossings

 Peeking Just Above
 Koho Yamamoto & Ivan Klein

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A perfect sumi-e circle indicative of superior artistic and spiritual power boldly intruded upon, becomes

a fractured Black Moon
peeking just above
no end of pure chaos

Are those white clouds
pierced by stabbing black
mountains of sorrow and doubt?

A volcanic eruption
with the Master’s
feathery touch

If Jackson Pollack’s inspired drips are worth nine figures,
what I ask should this spontaneous jazz masterpiece be valued at
by a still uncomprehending world?

Text: Ivan Klein.  Sumi -e drawings: Koho Yamamoto.

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Ivan Klein latest book, The Hat and Other Poems and Prose is published by Sixth Floor Press. His other publications include Toward Melville (New Feral Press), Alternatives to Silence (Starfire Press) and the chapbook Some Paintings by Koho & A Flower Of My Own from Sisyphus Press. His work has been published in the Forward, Urban Graffiti, Otoliths, and numerous other periodicals.

Koho Yamamoto, a master of the Japanese art of sumi-e, had a studio in Soho where she worked and taught for over thirty years. The subject of an NHK documentary, she has been profiled in the NY Times and had exhibitions at major universities and galleries in the United States. Her definitive statement of artistic method, evident in the above paintings is “these paintings come from nothingness. They are spontaneous occurrences.  …Sometimes the result of space, balance and dark and light (Notan) successfully emerge in the spirit of the moment.”