Oviellejo #18

kintsugi

one does not live to three-score-three
with unskinned knees

silver peppered, thinning locks
life’s hard knocks

eventually take their toll
don’t always show

a life lived well, the afterglow,
magnificence, adorned in grace,
deep wisdom etched into a face
with unskinned knees, life’s hard knocks don’t always show

~kat

The philosophy behind Kintsugi is a confluence of three very potent rivers of thought from Asian Philosophy. Zen, Mono No Aware, and Wabi Sabi come together as one in the art of Kintsugi to teach us about impermanence and imperfection. Repair requires transformation and that cracks hold a philosophical merit and significance all on their own.

Zen emphasizes zazen: meditation as the means to awakening. Zen meditation ideally is not only concentration, but also awareness: being aware of the continuing changes in our consciousness, of all our sensations and our automatic reactions.

Read more HERE.

The Oviellejo is an Old Spanish verse form (derived from ovillo, a ball of yarn). A stanza consists of 10 lines, with a rhyme scheme of AABBCCCDDC. The second line of each rhyme scheme, Line 2,4,6, is short line of up to 5 syllables. The last line is a “redondilla,” a “little round” that collects all three of the short lines.