To the blue
to the gray
to the day
Photography
Current Directionals
Heading Into 2023
Heading into 2023… I like that the path is there, the clarity, not so much. But overall, a hopeful, beautiful view.
“Night Flowers” Published in the New Issue of Feral
Thrilled to have my photograph “Night Flowers” published in “The Hunger Issue” of Feral: A Journal of Poetry and Art. Big thanks to guest editor Marcelle Newbold and the entire Feral/Animal Heart Press team.
See more of my published photographs here.
Wind on Rain Slicked Skin — Photograph
Updating the site with a photography section. Here’s a photograph from a series (“Wind on Rain Slicked Skin”) published in Former Cactus literary magazine. Check out the new photography section here: jeffreyyamaguchi.com/photography.
Disappearing Swan
This is a collaboration with the artist Maggie Umber. I took a photo during a quiet moment in the Fall, capturing a lone swan majestically making its way along the still water. It inspired me to write a poem, and I posted both the photo and poem online. Maggie saw this post and was inspired to paint the image, and during the process, the swan disappeared. I was then inspired to write another poem, and create an image of the photo, artwork, and poems, side by side.
It really resonated with me how the swan disappeared in Maggie’s painting. Was it a mirage? Pure imagination? A dream? Or just life — there it is, and then it is gone. And yet the moment lives on — in memory, a photograph, artwork, and poems. The smallest, quietest, fleeting happenings have a way of just going and going, and perhaps that is what truly binds everything together and helps us make sense of our lives and the mystifying world around us.
Maggie is a truly amazing artist making all kinds of innovative work, including one of my favorite graphic novels — Sound of Snow Falling. Her forthcoming graphic novel — Chrysanthemum Under the Waves — is one of the books I am anticipating the most. The disappearing swan piece she painted is available as a print via her website.
Unreachable Sky
Unreachable sky
beyond the fade
of the shimmer
from the leaves of long ago
there echoes among
the broken rings
of forgotten days
the bitter chill
in the long stretch of after
This photo was first published in Black Bough Poetry, Issue 4: Divine Darkness.
Coldest of Days
A coldest of days
forges a crystal palace
rule lasts a moment
This poem and photograph originally appeared in the literary journal Three Drops from a Cauldron.
A Spectrum of Where
Quiet descends in waves
a spectrum of where
ever sky is upon the lands
This poem and photograph originally appeared in the literary magazine Mojave Heart Review.
Jeffrey Yamaguchi 