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Happy Poetry Friday! Are you a regular or a newbie? No matter…you are welcome! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.)
This month, the Poetry Sisters wrote about wabi-sabi, a Japanese concept that’s beautiful and subtle and sort of hard to define in brief. Tricia and Tanita shared some definitions they found, and my favorite bits are the idea of accepting that nothing’s ever perfect nor permanent. And yet we find joy in some of those very imperfect, impermanent things. Sometimes, their very imperfections and impermanence are what inspire the deep feelings of appreciation inside us!
I have a picture book called Line Leads the Way coming out very soon (gulp!), and it is all about the beauty and strength of imperfection (and also about libraries and shapes and treasures). Leonard Cohen’s lyric, “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in,”–that was my theme song while writing this book. It totally encapsulates how I feel about perfection, imperfection, and vulnerability.
I decided to try to write a definito poem (as created by Heidi Mordhorst), but mine is imperfect. I don’t ever really think of writing–mine or others’–as perfect or imperfect. I think it’s all imperfect. But I do tend to be a rule follower, so it hurt to break one of the rules. I didn’t use the word I’m defining as the last line. I used it as the title. Ah, well, imperfection, right?
Don’t forget to see what others wrote, including those below and also some lovely Poetry Friday-ers who often take up the challenge and write alongside. So happy to see that! I’m in Florida visiting family this weekend, so I’m only going to be able to do limited commenting this week.
Liz
Sara
Tanita
Tricia
Mary Lee
Click here to see all our previous Poetry Princesses collaborations.
Our Poetry Friday host is Poetry Sister Tricia Stohr-Hunt! She’ll have lovely thoughts about wabi-sabi, so check out the Roundup!
11 Responses
You may believe what you wrote feels imperfect (this time) to you, but I love all the images that make our lives joyful, like those crooked blue letters! That’s our perfect life! Thanks, Laura!
YES to “It’s a way that we walk through the world.” With the intention of Wabi-Sabi eyes, we see such beauty in our cracked and broken world. It’s a choice. Doesn’t mean we won’t try to fix what we can or create beauty with our gifts, but we can love it all, no matter what.
Oh, I adore this — it IS all these things! This poem is so hopeful, Laura! Chalk smiley faces 4EVER!!
To chalk a sidewalk knowing it will be washed away, to love someone who won’t always be there, to build a fire that will burn out. So many lovely examples in your poem of impermanence. Your definito may not be “perfect” but it is lovely.
I love how you broke the rules, but kept the rules of the original Poetry Sisters’ prompt. The repetition of it’s works here. I love your list of imperfect things- sidewalk chalk smiley face is my favorite.
Wow, Laura, so much beauty in your definito poem. I like that you broke the rule and made it imperfect, but I must say “arthritis” and “inside us” seems like rhyming perfection to me. Beautiful images of imperfection captured.
oof…that feeling we carry to sleep deep inside us — and thinking of its beauty and impermanence –makes my heart squeeze. I want so badly to hang on to that feeling sometimes. And your preamble makes me wonder if perhaps it is a gift that it cannot me held for long?
Broken rule or no, this was a lovely poem paying attention to the perfect moments of beautiful things that are maybe only there for an afternoon or an hour — I think you really nailed it, Laur.
I love the imperfect, but this one was perfect to me. I love that chalk smiley face under a thundercloud.
Looking forward to your book, Laura! I love all the imperfect images you created, especially of Gram writing the crooked letters. It reminds me of my grandmother and mother. I could always look to their handwriting to see how things were going.
The balance you found in each stanza really sings of wabi-sabi, and I love the sound you created within the lines– it would make a good picture book. Enjoy your family weekend, thanks Laura!