Chiyo-Jo

A friend, the artist Linda Lynch, came by the other day and she shared with me this haiku.

Clear water

No front 

No back

--Chiyo-Jo

Nice. And nice translation too. In Japan this is her most widely known poem:

morning glory!
the well bucket-entangled,
I ask for water

Which is the subject of the painting.  

Chiyo-Jo was a woman poet of 18^th Century Japan. She lived the century after Basho but certainly welcomed the open heart of his poetics.  

Turns out that Linda, who lives in Columbus, NM, also sits and stares at a wall doing nothing. Studying self. Forgetting self. Whatever you want to call it. Shikantaza is a good word to call it, huh? You can see Linda's work here and see how Zen understanding and her work intertwine, especially with her expression of negative space.