Sketchbook  Karina Klesko, US and Cristian Mocanu, RO

 

 

Mondo with Tanka Response   the sound of the four winds and prayers of love, intertwined which is which?                                                                             /kk the most humid wind is the one of lovers— it's easy to tell: the clouds are made of love tears just as mist is made of sighs...                                                    /cm Actually this image is an echo (the Japanese would call it "honkadori"). Your reference to prayers of love intertwined with the elements brought to mind a mondo from Manyoshu between an anonymous nobleman send as an envoy to Shiragi (Silla Kingdom, Korea) and his equally anonymous wife, both gifted poets, even if we were to judge by this mondo only. I give it here in my humble re-translation (via Romanian) just because those anonymous 7-th century Japanese were so much greater poets than myself: THE WIFE: If you sleep on the seashore during your strenuous journey and the fog will be thick know this: the sea is not to blame but rather the breath of my weeping THE HUSBAND: As early as next summer I'll land on the native shore: should you really weep so much that the sweetness of your breath become but a wandering fog? I used this honkadori in deepest respect to this nameless poet couple and as a tribute to them and their love... Cristian Mocanu *Mondo

 

Mondo a transparent map of my life, somewhere in the stars                                      /kk even for beggars like myself, some hope remains: Tanabata Day*                                /cm *refers to the Sino-Japanese holiday when the constellations known as the "Shepherd" and the "Weaver Girl" meet. These are seen as 2 lovers separated by fate but to whom a short-lived, one-day-a-year bliss was still conceded. See: Tanabata Day.

 

 

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