By Ebisu

Optional Author’s Note: Ebisu is the Japanese god of fisherman, good luck, and workingmen, as well as the guardian of small children’s health. He is one of the Seven Gods of Fortune, and the only one of the seven to originate in Japan. This poem, about the legacy of fly tiers and their namesake creations, was composed while sitting by an image of Ebisu, thus the title.

When I contemplate
The Pantheon of the former,

Patterns go
In a stream’s flow.

Fishers,
Men and women,

Tie together
As feathers and fur do

When wrapped
By thread and floss;

Their names, embossed,
Become floating sculptures.

The Author by "Ebisu" by Shinjo Ito, Milk Gallery, West Village, NYC, NY, 02 2008 photo credit: Maryann Amici

copyright 2008 by ron P. swegman. all rights reserved.