Your Lover -- Reflection

I was walking through the Joslyn Art Museum's Kiewit Sculpture Garden, and a great opportunity came up to photograph an imposing piece, the Spirit of the Dance, by William Zorach, juxtaposed with virile maple leaves. I usually don't try to set these kinds of juxtapositional compositions up -- I see a promising frame and I take a picture of it. Sometimes I make a mistake. This was one of those mistakes. This maple branch -- thin and spindly, almost looking like a prop instead of a living thing -- ended up in the way of the sculpture.

I looked more closely at the photograph. It looked like the maple tree had its "arm" around the sculptural figure, so I cropped it. Closer up, it was even more riveting to me. So I wrote the Senryu about it, which went through a number of different drafts until I settled on the pun at the end. I could not help it. Maybe that was a mistake, too. We'll have to see.

Reflection Points: This PhotoSinryu invites us to look at our mistakes differently. Do you get angry with yourself, or with others, or with anything within reach, when you make a mistake? What would happen if you tried to see a different outcome from the mistake? Would it change how you live if you try to see making a mistake as just a reality of living, not a sign of personal failure?

© 2020, by Brian Kokensparger. Return to PhotoSinryu List.