Arvo Part

Portrait of Arvo Part
(2011 by Michael) 

"I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played.  This one note, or a silent beat, or a moment of silence, comforts me."

— Arvo Part
Estonian Classical Composer

1935 -

Many of the poems I have written are full of simple words and simple images.  I spent seven years early in my career writing haiku, a Japanese poetic form, that has a maximum of 17 syllables.  Most of my haiku are less than 17 syllables.  Here is one with four words and six syllables.

pregnant —

    she weeds

       carrots

Here is one with three words and six syllables.

spider

    underfoot —

        squash

For me, it is what is not said sometimes that is as important as what is said.  Listen to the silences between the words — the silences within the images, the silences between the notes.  Some writers are lavish with their words and sentences.  One of my favorites is John Irving.  His novels are written as circles within circles — very complex in construction and development and I enjoy them.  Some writers, artists and musicians seek simplicity in their work.  Arvo Part, the Estonian composer, is one of them.

Here is a track from his album, Alina.  Enjoy the pictures as well as the music.

We need both the simple and the complex in our lives.  If you are complex artist, seek simplicity in a few of your works.  If you are a simple artist, seek complexity.  And don't be fooled into thinking simple works are not as good as complex works.  Sometimes simple works are harder to create than complex works.  In a 500 page novel, you can make a few mistakes and nobody will notice.  In a haiku, one wrong word will ruin the haiku.

Here is a short poem, I wrote back in March 2011.

Your breath,

a feather

of love,

touches my ear.

I listen

to the moon

and cry softly.

(The portrait of Arvo Part above was done by Michael.  Check out his blog, Red. Yellow. Blue.)