The following passages are excerpted from the book The Art of Harmony by Sang H. Kim 

The Brush

Mountains and valleys,
Rocks and streams,
Birch and pine,
Birds and sky,
Short and long twigs,
Strong and soft winds,
Straight and twisted rivers,
Are perfect neighbors.
They are the strokes of life.
Without them, we are a stranger
On a lone desert
Painting an empty canvas.
No stroke, no sky.

* * * 

When I was a teenager, my father used to pile up junk in the backyard. They were tons of copper wires, giant wooden wheels, a house- sized pile of electric poles, and strange looking giant plastic dishes. I asked him what they were for and he replied that they were left over from his work. I wanted a place to play, so I asked him to clean them up, but he told me to wait. So I waited more than ten years.