Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Japanese Aesthetics

From nothingness to nothingness

the waves the waves

the simple weathered things I love

imperfect

impermanent

incomplete

that which comes and goes I cherish

discernible only to a cultivated eye

a quiet mind


What makes these tears start

out of nowhere?


Year after year

the karateka practises the kata

until suddenly one day

the unnatural becomes natural

the rehearsed becomes spontaneous


The ikebana artist

cuts a flower

precisely in order to make it live

to return it to itself


The Nō actor

slides his raised-toe foot along the stage

then abruptly cuts off the movement

lowering his toes to the floor-

a pause between inhalation and exhalation-

and at the exact same instant

his other foot slides forward


The poet’s brush

strikes a cut

between two images

in a haiku

walling in a rock garden

of white gravel and black stones

where the only motion

is shadows cast by sun and moon











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