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Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
I am a white African. Contradiction in terms? I think not. Sometimes my blog will be serious; sometimes sad; sometimes irreverent; sometimes witty; always my truth simply written.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

2 Poet Mondo

if our earth explodes
will its fragments disappear
forever lost in darkness


Not sure if I've got this right in respect of the sentiments expressed, but anyone is welcome to add the 2nd stanza for this Mondo in the comments? Details regarding Mondo:

Mondo comes from the Zen practice of rapid question-answer between Master and student. Often the answer would be in nonverbal form such as pointing to a natural object. The poetic tradition of the Mondo is similar in nature, it can be a single line containing statement-response such as "summer sun sets, I am done". Such lines are often found in the Renga. But it can also be a 2 stanza poem written by two authors, one asking and one answering. The answer of course should reflect the spirit of the Zen student taking understanding from nature.

The Mondo is:
1. written by 2 separate poets, one asking, one answering.
2. 2 stanzas of 3 lines each, 19 syllables or less, often 5-7-7, sometime 5-7- 5 is used for each stanza. The first stanza is the question, the 2nd is the response.
3. written in the spirit of Zen, responsive through meditation and observation of natural surroundings.

1 comment:

  1. We are all stardust
    earth, water, air, creatures - we will
    return to the stars

    Don't know if I've got it quite right either, but like the idea of this Marion. It's good to 'see' you again! Hope you and yours are keeping well.

    ReplyDelete