Quicklinks:
Short S. | Poetry | Not News | Scripts | Comedy | Non-Fiction | SF | Crime | For Kids | Extended | Village
Great Writing - Home > Poetry > Zen Garden
READING ROOM
Great Writing - Home
Read and review others' work
Articles on writing
Advice from the community
COMMUNITY
Talk to others in the forums
Events and Competitions
GW News
ABOUT GREAT WRITING
All About Us
Contact Us
WORK AWAITING REVIEW
GW IS...
Great Writing creative writing community is designed to prompt ideas and provide inspiration and motivation within aspiring and amateur authors. Whatever your topic; from love poetry to Doctor Who or Harry Potter fan fiction, Great Writing's online writing group is where you can make new friends and improve your creative writing.
WHO'S ONLINE
We have 1641 guests online
Poetry
print friendly version     
Zen Garden
Written by fellpony
12 March 2008
Inspired by Monty Don's recent TV programme about Eastern, and particularly Japanese,  gardening.

A haiku about the old style Zen garden, followed by a tanka - the traditional response to a haiku - about a 20th C variation on the same. Old being answered by new, you might say.


in patterned gravel
three mossgrown rocks are mountains
in cloud and ocean

        *

here the chequerboard
rocks and moss flow out of square
old patterns dissolve
softly drift away and fade
into sculpted wilderness

Reviews
Hi Sue
Written by jean.day (2326 comments posted) 13th March 2008
Very nice choice of words - to paint your gardening picture. 
 
I particularly like the tanka.

Written by Fledermaus (3448 comments posted) 13th March 2008
Choice of words and the chosen scheme fit well with the content. Although a truly Zen-poem would probably be just an empty page ;)

Written by fellpony (1652 comments posted) 13th March 2008
Hm - is something empty truly Zen-like? If a page is blank can it be perfect? (Discuss!)

Written by Bottleblondesurfer (3445 comments posted) 13th March 2008
I didn't know it but I must have bought a pack of zen CDs this morning and a couple of zen notebooks as well. Would it spoil the karma if I wrote in them? 
This is a completely different poem without the middle section. It's quite contemplative, painting pictures in the mind.  
Hey, you paint the picture, I've, now, got the image.Who needs Monty Don and all that gardening? 
Jane 

Written by Phil (6836 comments posted) 13th March 2008
Liked these, Sue. Particularly the haiku - unusual - as I can usually see their merit but struggle to enjoy. 
 
Mention of Monty reminded me of Geoff Hamilton. The cadence of his voice as he dug a garden in late winter with fogging breath had a cadence all of its own.  
 
Phil

Written by Bottleblondesurfer (3445 comments posted) 13th March 2008
Yes,Phil I think Geoff Hamilton was the closest you'd get to a zen gardener. It wasn't about ego with him. The garden was the star and he was the spotlight. Like the old Japanese potters who never signed their work. The pot was important not the potter. That's a zen thing. 
I've often been to his gardens at Barnsdale in Rutland. Almost perfection[ but of course, not quite]

   Only registered users can rate and write comments.
   Please login or register.

Powered by AkoComment 2.0!
 Previous item   Next item
This site is copyright 2005 - 2007 Great Writing. Work submitted by members remains the copyright of the respective authors.
See our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.