Dragonfly Dance

Posted on June 30, 2016 by

red dragonfly

Matsuo Bashō  (松尾 芭蕉, 1644 – 1694):

Crimson pepper pod
add two pairs of wings, and look
darting dragonfly.

Kobayashi Issa  (小林 一茶?, 1763 – 1828)

The dragonfly!
Distant mountains reflected
in his eyes.

by unknown poets:

Meeting in flight,
how wonderfully do the dragonflies
glance away from each other!

Dance, O dragonflies,
In your world
of the setting sun.

About wordcloud9

Nona Blyth Cloud has lived and worked in the Los Angeles area for the past 45 years, spending much of that time commuting on the 405 Freeway. After Hollywood failed to appreciate her genius for acting and directing, she began a second career managing non-profits, from which she has retired. Nona has now resumed writing whatever comes into her head, instead of reports and pleas for funding. She lives in a small house overrun by books with her wonderful husband and a bewildered Border Collie.
This entry was posted in Japan, Poetry, Short Video and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to Dragonfly Dance

  1. Joy of Fishes says:
    June 30, 2016 at 4:48 pm

    Dragon flies have particular meaning to me … one of my favorite memories is riding on horseback with daughter into a meadow where there were thousands of dragon flies flitting about, their wings glinting in the sun.

    And melancholy – how I miss blueyedace2 from DK, who often posted photos of dragaon flies and other scenes from nature before the changes at the site made it no longer work for him – http://www.dailykos.com/user/blueyedace2/history

    Rest in peace, ace. I remember you in the flight of the dragonfly.

    Reply
  2. wordcloud9 says:
    June 30, 2016 at 6:31 pm

    Thanks Joy – for the meadow, and the remembrance of a friend.

    Dragonflies are associated for me with two wonderful So Calif museums:

    The original Getty museum, the Getty Villa, a reproduction of a Pompeiian villa, on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean – it has a couple of still water installations that are very popular with the dragonflies – http://www.getty.edu/visit/villa/gardens.html

    And the Huntington Library/Museum in San Marino near Pasadena, which has a superb series of themed gardens – Japanese, cactus, Shakespearean, etc. Their water features are home to many of the tiny dragons – http://www.huntington.org/gardens/

    Reply
  3. Chuck Stanley says:
    June 30, 2016 at 8:09 pm

    Approximately 300 million years ago, they were the largest insect ever. The Giant Dragonfly (M. permiana) was deserving of the ‘dragon’ part of its name. Wingspan of more than two feet, and length only slightly less than that. It was big enough to mess you up if it mistook you for food. As the atmosphere became less oxygen rich, animals and insects got smaller.

    Reply
  4. wordcloud9 says:
    June 30, 2016 at 8:46 pm

    That’s scary-big – sounds like the ants in the movie ‘Them.’

    Reply

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