Sea & Sky

Leaf 192 – Art Inspired

 

J.M.W. Turner - Sea and Sky (c.1825-1830) Tate Britain

Another experiment in my on-going side project of #artinspired haiku. This poem was written as a response to a Bluesky writing prompt: ‘Ekphrastic Skies.’ For which I chose J.W.M. Turner’s watercolour, ‘Sea and Sky’ (c.1825-1830). Although it was also inspired by a real sunset which I saw and photographed on the last night of a memorable trip I made to the island of Malta in 2014 (see, Leaf 193).

 

In this poem, I consciously wanted the haiku to be split into two equal halves, and also three thirds (or three levels), as a means of representing the visual image/experience of seeing the sun setting into the sea (i.e. – the thin, sun-scorched line of the horizon bisecting sea and sky; as well as the sky, the sun, the sea) mirrored in the actual structure of the haiku itself.

 

This is the final version of the poem, as it was originally posted on Bluesky:

 

 

Slipping into

the sea, the sun

brazing the sky.

 

 

But there is also another version of this poem (see below) which is a little more minimalist, or perhaps a more conventionally-stylised modern English haiku (hence I’ve consciously eschewed my usual R.H. Blyth-like capitalisation and proper punctuation). I’m not 100% sure now which of the two poems was written first, but this other, less wordy version was probably the result of me thinking over and wrestling with the process of brazing, and trying to work out whether the sun was brazing sky to sea or sea to sky, or whether or not the distinction even matters given that the sun seemed to be melting between the two. As such, I’m still undecided as to which version works best.

 

In essence, while different and separate works, they are also, to certain extents, simultaneously the same poem – and that’s why I’ve decided to present both on this particular leaf. I suppose it is up to the reader to decide for themselves which of the two has the greater appeal.

 

 

brazing

sky and sea

– the setting sun