Friday, March 31, 2006

Hermit's lament

Bored monkey, bored trainer, Miyajima island, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, May 1996, by Michael


'Tis a sad world indeed
that would rob you even of the simple pleasure
of bathing in your own blues

7 comments:

Brotha Buck said...

Hello, glad you stopped by. I too work for a large daily, though I try to keep it as quiet as possible. But I'm an art guy, not a word guy, so hopefully you'll overlook all my misplaced words, and marks and such. I enjoyed your photography, I'm sure you sometimes contribute that art to the paper as well?

Michael said...

Hi BB,

Many thanks for stopping by!
Thanks also for the kind comments on my photos. I'd love to try newspaper photography. For the best seven years, I've done only copy editing. But I want to ask the photo editor, with whom I'm very friendly, if I could give photography a shot, pardon the pun.
As for overlooking your mistakes, if you promise to overlook mine, you've got a deal!

Phats said...

I think monkeys are incredibly cool animals. Possibly because they tumble and do tricks, and I can tumble so I relate who knows?

We have monkeys like those at our local fair and when you tip then they do a trick then tip their hat

Taigu said...

The bored monkey is leaving today for Japan.

Empty broken bowl.

Tears.

Cherry blossoms. Maybe.

Buddha bless, Michael.

Michael said...

Thanks, g! I was lucky to capture this shot. The monkey and trainer really were that bored. They had been giving these silly performances all day, and I happened to catch this moment near the end of their shift, if memory serves.
There is a species of monkey native to Japan, and their antics -- especially at hot springs, which they love in winter -- are often featured on newscasts.

Michael said...

Hi Phats,

Yes, there's something very amusing -- and scary -- about watching monkeys play, probably because they're so like us (or vice versa).

Michael said...

Hello Pierre,

I wish you the very best of luck in your voyage. A tout a l'heure! (I hope I spelled that right...)
Rainen nihon ni aitte shimashou!
Please keep in touch, and let me know how you're doing.