I previously noted my packing list for creativity on the go, that it includes a variety of note- and sketchbooks. Not to mention my smartphone, with which I also use Google Docs to capture ideas in the wild.
So, not long ago, while standing with a double scoop of helado, or ice cream, in my hand when the moon had risen over me in Oaxaca, Mexico, I scratched out this short verse the only way I could: short-term memory and hope.
Just as well. That method, as uncomfortable as it is, suits my lyrical love for simple and oh, so short-short. Almost haiku, but more flexible.
The Moon
A slight curl of moon glows
hazily in a fading sky.
Palm fronds reach and
bow in its presence.
Afterward, when the moon had tucked me in for the night and I was dog-earing my copy of Leonard Koren’s Wabi-Sabi (also mentioned in “Packing List”), this line of his resonated:
“Wabi-sabi suggests that beauty is a dynamic event that occurs between you and something else. Beauty can spontaneously occur at any moment, given the proper circumstances, context or point of view.”
So riddle me this: How do you recognize beauty?
Share comments and how you recognize beauty in the world via @humanitou on Instagram or email: adam at humanitou.com.
