Tanka syllable count 5-7-5-7-7

Many thanks to Keri Harrish for the use of the artwork.


Write a poem - on the subject "wabi-sabi" (not "wasabi").

Definition of wabi-sabi:

Wabi-sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on:

1. acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete".

2. based on the concept of Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence, specifically:

a) impermanence, b) suffering and c) emptiness or absence of self-nature (ego).

3. Characteristic themes of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include:

a) asymmetry b) asperity (roughness or irregularity) c) simplicity d) economy, e) austerity f) modesty g) the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes (e.g a broken tea cup).

My thanks to my friend, Ritchie, whom I met here at FanStory, for sponsoring the contest (which was already full) that enlightened me to the concepts of wabi-sabi. I hope I understood in proper fashion and did justice to this style on my first attempt.

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