#108names

lithe-leaping beauty – a young man jumps off the walls, more or less for joy & because he can

patterned & repetitive beauty – William Morris paper

sleek-haired beauty – a long black braid down the back

sustained beauty – the old ballerina hovers to meet the floor before her, legs spread wide

steady-growing beauty – the huge old beech tree, roots at least as deep as branches are wide

animal  beauty– a dog’s perfectly-applied eyeliner

elaborate beauty – a wedding dress of lace, with a satin belt in a bow

beauty of negative spaces locking into positive spaces – Hokusai

beauty of ugliness – the taste of durian fruit

beauty of famous art – participating in loving a painting with many others in the same room, looking

actors’ beauty onscreen – feeling it is impossible not to wonder at the fact that Penelope Cruz even exists

actors’ beauty offscreen – and how it is always somehow different

beauty of old people who have not given up

beauty of children when they don’t think about it

beauty of domesticated flowers – how they grow from seed, right there in your garden, even though you know so little

beauty of wild flowers – how they grow profligately & even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these

beauty of cold, powerful German cars & glass buildings

beauty of well-crafted Damascene steel swords

mountainous beauty – there is nothing useful that can be said about seeing the Himalayas from the plastic window of an airplane

beauty of the sky at dusk

beauty of the sky at high altitude

Himalayan blue poppies

indigo

cerulean

Prussian blue

blue glass bottles, whole or broken by the sea

delphiniums

freaky blue eyes of Irish spotted ponies

forget-me-nots

Tibetan clouds, printed on Nepalese sky-blue lokta paper

the Virgin Mary’s deep blue cloak, with a red shift beneath it

eggplant-purple

cowrie-shell-purple

caput mortuum

iris-purple

ladies who wear purple every day, including their shoes & nails & amethyst crystals

purple soil of Utah

vermilion ink for Chinese stamps

deepest red of roses

alizarin crimson

quinacridone magenta

cochineal-carmine-red, made of millions of insects

ripe cherry red

blood red

raspberry-dusky red

pink of John McCracken’s The Absolutely Naked Fragrance

beet-red risotto

pink edges of white roses

scallop-roe orange

mussel-flesh orange

gravlax orange

melon orange

turmeric-dye yellow-orange

egg yolk

amber

cadmium yellow

naples yellow

yellow gold torus made by Vikings

joss paper

bumblebee covered in pollen

yellow-green lichen in Yosemite

hellebore

jade disc

hornworm

Old Holland green-gold paint in a lead tube

interference green on a dark background

green eyes in dark-skinned faces

fern-green in the early spring

viridian

Veronese green

translucent kelp green on a beach where the winter sun is setting

spinach

celadon

emerald

snow

milk

alabaster windows

clear white teeth of young animals

new paper

old paper

skin (pink-and-white)

skin (blue-black & as dark as skin can be)

skin (brown with sun & hot places)

skin (very old and fragile, where you can see through it into the body)

skin (hairy at the belly and chest)

skin (smooth at the belly and chest)

obsidian

burnished clay black

black sheep

brown sheep with black-and-white noses and long tails

bells ringing noon

deep bass of the dance club resonating in the body

bad ideas set to beautiful song

beauty of empty rooms

beauty of hidden spaces

beauty of shared food

beauty of merciful eyes

beauty of Zen people in dark robes

beauty of wedding guests in pink dresses

beauty of wedding guests in fine houndstooth jackets

beauty of agreeing to live your life

beauty of letting go

beauty of winter afternoon walking meditation, sucking in pellucid green light

beauty of everything in wave-form

beauty of everything just as it is

beauty of realizing this pain is a bridge

beauty of not-knowing