The dead would gather somewhere to discuss life, but death is an absolute, and remains forever mute. In my mirror I see a stranger, who has arrived at an age, when illusions are lost, like the messages in books he read in his childhood. A small fraction of truth passed over his head obscurely, like clouds passed on a night, when an ordinary day dawned, and like so many others, was misspent or misread. There was no hurry or bother, a bright future still lay ahead. This was a time of long summers, with no thoughts of the soon forgotten dead, but thoughts of love that would never die instead.
A Summer Landscape by Georges Seurat(1859-1891) From Public Domain
George Freek’s poetry has recently appeared in The Ottawa Arts Review, Acumen, The Lake, The Whimsical Poet, Triggerfish and Torrid Literature.
PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL
Painting by Georges Seurat(1859-1891). From the Public Domain.
Parasols? Seriously? Such were my thoughts when I first arrived in Japan one summer over twenty years ago. How quaint, I thought. How old fashioned! If a lady was worried about preserving her lily-white complexion, why not just slather on sunscreen and wear a hat?
In South Carolina, where I’d just come from, the only time I ever saw women wielding parasols was when I visited antebellum mansions. There, tour guides flounced around plantations in hoopskirts, twirling parasols as part of their period costumes. In real life, no one used them.
Back then, many of my friends spent hours laying out in the sun, in pursuit of the perfect tan. In the United States, people found my skin to be too pale, but in Japan women wore long white gloves and smeared their faces with whitening cream. And they carried parasols to ward off the sun.
Parasols have actually been in use in the Middle East and Asia for a very long time. They are depicted in ancient art in India, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece, and are mentioned in a divination book from the Chinese Song Dynasty printed in 1270. Although alternative uses have been discovered for the parasol – for example, in 1902, ladies were advised by The Daily Mirror to use their parasols to fend off ruffians — the basic design is much the same as that of first century China.
A postcard from the turn of the 20th century. From the Public Domain
The only parasol I’d ever owned was a bright red one made of paper, bought from a souvenir shop in Southeast Asia, which I displayed in a corner as an ethnic accent to my home décor. I never thought of using it outside.
Parasols were fussy and cumbersome, I thought. How could you do anything with your hands if you were holding one? They were a nuisance, and yet when I went to a baseball game with my mother-in-law in mid-summer, and the hot sun beat down upon us, I was grateful to share the shade of her black umbrella.
Ever conscious of my carbon footprint, I walk to the neighbourhood store with my eco-bags. One sweltering day last summer, I started to reach for my hat on my way out the door, but grabbed an umbrella instead. It really was cooler underneath! And carrying a parasol helps cut down on the new freckles. Today I browsed online for a new parasol. A number of new vendors have popped up in the West offering a variety of designs – Battenburg Lace for outdoor weddings, solid team colours for stadium sports, and more. Could it be that the parasol is about to come into fashion again in my native country? Here in Japan, it has never gone out of style.
From the Public Domain
Suzanne Kamatawas born and raised in Grand Haven, Michigan. She now lives in Japan with her husband and two children. Her short stories, essays, articles and book reviews have appeared in over 100 publications. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize five times, and received a Special Mention in 2006. She is also a two-time winner of the All Nippon Airways/Wingspan Fiction Contest, winner of the Paris Book Festival, and winner of a SCBWI Magazine Merit Award.
PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL
Painting by Georges Seurat (1859-1891). Courtesy: Creative commons
Under the Sapphire Sky
Sprawled on the beach chair under the open azure sky
Surrounded with a panoramic enormous expanse of sapphire waters of the Indian Ocean
Absorbed the blue of the skies
And the turquoise waters
The beautiful verdant foliage
Trying to sink in the utopian state
Of mental and physical wellbeing
Far-off youngsters swim
Making the most of their lives
Some laze in the sun under canopies
Others splash their thighs in the blue seawaters
And a few pose for selfies
Soon to be posted on their Whatsapp and FBs
Their wanderlust's evidences…
Dr. Sangeeta Sharma, an associate editor of SETU and an academic, has authored a book on Arthur Miller, a collection of poems, edited six anthologies on poetry, fiction and criticism (solo and joint) and two workbooks on communication. She has free-lanced for The Times of India. A book of hers is used as a reference at the Clayton State University, Georgia, USA.
.
PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL
Borderless 