MICROPOETRY | KINTSUGI | ALCHEMY

Lacquer and Gold

A nonet poem

Photo by SIMON LEE on Unsplash

With shattered heart in two wintry hands,
I followed petals of cherry
blossom trees and the strum of
her divine biwa strings.*
She fused the pieces
with lacquer and
gold. Now, bruised
heart will
glow.

© Ruth Boukhari 2024

*I recently discovered the Japanese art of Kintsugi, and a thought came to mind about fusing a broken heart back together with gold. Being enamoured with ancient gods and goddesses, I chose the Japanese Shinto Goddess of Love and Fortune, Benten, as my alchemist. She is often depicted with a traditional Japanese musical instrument called a biwa (a kind of lute), hence the reference.

Kintsugi is the traditional Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by using lacquer and gold to glue the pieces…