Welcome to Poetry Friday! I'm so happy to be hosting you here today, especially on this last Friday of the month when my poetry sisters and I share the poems we've written to a new challenge. This month we wrote poems about wabi-sabi, with wabi-sabi as the title. In Andrew Juniper's book Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence, wabi-sabi is defined this way.
Wabi-sabi is an aesthetic that finds beauty in things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete. Taken from the Japanese words wabi, which translates to less is more, and sabi, which means attentive melancholy, wabi-sabi refers to an awareness of the transient nature of earthly things and a corresponding pleasure in the things that bear the mark of this impermanence.
In his book Wabi-Sabi Simple, Richard Powell described wabi-sabi as a philosophy that acknowledges a lifestyle that appreciates and accepts three simple truths: "Nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect."
We had a wonderful Zoom call on Sunday, during which we had a wide-ranging conversation about wabi-sabi. I really wanted to write in a form, so I decided to experiment with the tritina. The tritina is composed of 3 tercets and a final line (envoi) that stands alone. Similar to a sestina, though shorter, it uses a set of 3 alternating end words instead of six. The form is: ABC / CAB / BCA / A, B, and C (final line/envoi). As I was writing, it felt like I didn't have enough room to play, so I tried a sestina. That was disastrous, so the tritina is what I stuck with.
Wabi-Sabi
art and architecture value
the golden ratio, the perfection
of divine proportion, its pleasing beauty
but what is beauty?
what do our choices say about what we value?
does the circular bell tower lack perfection
because it leans? is perfection
solid, straight, and tall? beauty
lives in a cracked bell—liberty has value
why value perfection when there is beauty in what is broken?
Poem ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2024. All rights reserved.
You can find the poems shared by my Poetry Sisters at the links below.
Would you like to try the next challenge? In July we’re writing haiku that resemble classified ads or Buy Nothing group posts. Are you in? Good! You have a month to craft your creation and share it on July 26th in a post and/or on social media with the tag #PoetryPals. We look forward to reading your poems!
Please join the Poetry Friday party by leaving your link below, and don't forget to leave a comment to let us know you're here. Happy poetry Friday, friends!
**NOTE**
Denise Krebs was kind enough to point out that Inlinkz doesn't work for everyone. If you click on a link and Inlinkz won't connect, go to the upper right-hand corner of the "refused to connect" page and click on the X. That should take you to the site. If that doesn't work, leave me a comment and I'll link those pages here.
I love how this poem is so layered in the concrete and then has broader meaning. "Liberty has value" struck me. I'm looking forward to reading the other wabi sabi poems too. Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteAll of your questions really got to me, but especially, "what do our choices say about what we value?"
ReplyDeleteYou shouldn't feel like you settled for a tritina -- this one works beautifully! (And now I want to try this form!!)
I've never tried a tritina - and now I will! Thank you! And I love these questions about beauty and what matters...do you know the book Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee? It's all about the aesthetics of JOY, which like your poem can include symmetry as well as imperfection; simplicity and also abundance. xo
ReplyDeleteTricia ... this is beautiful and it feels like it leads to all the others, it's the keystone piece on the theme. "...beauty / lives in a cracked bell..."
ReplyDeleteSuch meaningful questions in your tritina, Tricia! Sorry the sestina was tragic, but that's the process, right? This is lovely--and TX for hosting and adding my link!
ReplyDeleteI love your questions, Tricia, and at this time in our country, that you brought in 'liberty'! Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteYour final line is golden. Thanks for hosting.
ReplyDeleteIt totally surprised me, but I got teary when I saw The Liberty Bell for the first time. Your poem captures the beauty of "the crack in everything" and how it gives us freedom to really look again at the world. See what we value. Cherish it. Thank you for hosting!
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking recently about how many people in Hollywood seem to be getting facelifts, thinking that beauty only lives in bells with no cracks. Your poem goes nicely with the questions I've been asking. Thanks for hosting us, Tricia!
ReplyDeleteOh, what a perfect wabi-sabi topic you write about today. I love "beauty / lives in a cracked bell—liberty has value" It seems even more valuable these days. And that last question is something to hold onto. Thank you for the invitation to join you, and for hosting today, Tricia.
ReplyDeleteI thought I would leave a note about how InLinkz works on my post and, I've noticed, on Laura Salas' posts. For some reason, InLinkz won't connect, but you can just go to the upper right hand corner of the "refused to connect" page and click on the X. It will go right to our pages. Thanks to those who find us, even when InLinkz doesn't work.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting Tricia and sharing the tritina poem form, I'm curious to try it…I like your pondering into beauty and questions there all so fitting for a wabi-sabi poem!
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting today, Tricia. Wabi-sabi is a concept I can definitely get behind! I love your exploration of the ideas of beauty and imperfection. The tritina looks like a fun form to try.
ReplyDeleteGosh, even the three simple truths: "Nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect" is a poem! I might have to try wabi-sabi using those. There's something about the challenge of writing to a form that inspires me -- a puzzle of sorts. I will sit with "the golden ration...divine proportion" today. Thank you, Tricia.
ReplyDeleteHi Tricia! It's Carol Labuzzetta! (My email is not right for InLinkz, as shown above.)Thank you for hosting! And a huge thank you for your summer swam mailing! I loved your letter and finding out we have so much in common. I mailed back to you yesterday. ETA is July 1st. I love, as others have noted, the concept of "Nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect" - I think it speaks to so much of our beautiful world - man-made like the buildings you featured or the mushroom in my poem - which is beautiful, transient, and can be harmful (not perfect). I have always had an interest in sacred geometry, so I enjoyed that aspect of your post as well! Thank you for hosting, and again, for the package!
ReplyDeleteTricia, thank you for hosting Poetry Friday. While trying to get my thoughts flowing on the topic of wabi-sabi, I paused letting I of the worries of the day. My blog post will also be paused. I am getting tired again so I will continue to write tomorrow morning and check in to the Roundup. Your writing has a beautiful flow that has led me to research "waba sabi" and discover a pathway to celebrate everyday life. I call honor your poem.
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