A Perfect Day

~ Rajani Radhakrishnan

Every morning, before the tentative warmth of dawn melts the waxy sleep in my eyes, before reality sails in on the contrails of a fuming orb, I grab the last dark fibres of the shredded night and fashion them into brushes. Sometimes a soft rounded brush to sweep across time’s waking face, sculpting its cheek bones, filling its dimples with a rose tinted blush, colouring its ghostly pallor with the red hue of life, drawing its cold, snake skinned lips into a welcoming smile; or hard bristles to briskly sweep away fragments of a stubborn dream that dares in vain to breach the final wall of night, or maybe the sable haired brush from my mother’s table to paint over the wrinkles, the spots, the gashes, the tears, the blood as they step one by one into the watery light.

Every morning I carry a masterpiece, restored and refined, a perfect copy of the one from yesterday, and place it carefully into the mirror of the waiting day.

kohl smudged sky
a frayed blanket still drawn over
the slumbering sun

512px-Claude_Monet,_Impression,_soleil_levant
Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise
For the haibun prompt at Dverse Poets – “Quotidian”

43 thoughts on “A Perfect Day”

  2. You do have a masterful way with words…truly amazing. This is just a stunningly rich and varied description of the start of a day and you do that painting justice also.

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  3. oh my — amazing writing here. But I must admit, I had a very hard time reading past “cold, snake skinned lips.” Which means that is an amazing put-together of words — yech!!!! I HATE snakes! And these words are just crawling through me right now. YEEEEOW!
    Okay — divorced from the snake — a great piece of writing…..but snakes? Ok…need to sip my coffee, walk around a bit, and get that image out of my head!

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    1. I should… it’s hard to keep pace with daily prompts but am sure there will be a theme that will draw me in very soon like the Basho month. I’d love to write more haibun.

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  6. I think secretely I might like your haibun best. The raw description here is terrific, with words carrying so much sound and vibrancy, loaded with nostalgia and emotion. The underlying idea is very strong, putting on that face every day. In your haibun I really like what I think is most important, getting the balance between prose and haiku that really makes the haibun work so well, and here you have done it so successfully again, so that the links, strands or connections are natural and give that somethong extra. Once again, i really feel the cultural touches, the kohl and sable haired brush are a delight, as well as the metaphysical language, or the way you tie thoughts and objects together.

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  9. I admire the creation and re-creation of oneself ~ The fashioning of that mirror takes a lot of courage and deep reflection, and finally to put it into action for the new day ~ A thoughtful haibun, thank you ~

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  13. Breath-taking prose–I love the paint brush metaphor, the colors and texture of this piece. The art is reminiscent of Whistler in one of his more impressionistic phases. This is just gorgeous writing. Wish I’d written it.

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  17. I don’t know where to begin! You are a true poet, my friend! The images of the brushes and all that is symbolized in each one – amazingly well done. Oh, and that painting, the one that leant it’s name to the genre of Impressionism – it hangs in my home. Did you know that in black and white the sun vanishes? He was a genius with color. Okay, now I have to go back and read your amazing words again!

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