Haiku and Sijo Poetry

CAN HAIKU AND SIJO POEMS COEXHIST TOGETHER, YOU BE THE JUDGE?

SIJO # 162: MOON JARS…

Hope is a…quiet thing that

paints the night’s sky while the world sleeps.

Hope is the…moon’s grace that always

shines regardless of its phase.

The Moon Jar…reminds us of life’s

fullness through life’s emptiness.

HAIKU # 618: MOON JARS…

Hope captured inside,

the Moon Jar’s faithful arms of —

fullness, emptiness.

Three interesting things about Moon Jars:

• Moon Jars are a type of traditional Korean porcelain.
• It was popular during the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910).
• Proportionally, they are unbalanced, in essence, this creates the balance that is needed to create a ‘floating’ appearance. Today’s poetry is inspired by a story shared in Seoul To Soul, novel, about Moon Jars, a beautiful life lesson.

Sijo poetry follows the syllabic arrangement of 3-4-4-4, 3-4-4-4, 3-5-4-3, and it stems originally from South Korea. It naturally mimics more the flow of a song, as it was originally called sijo-change (song).

On the other hand, haiku poetry follows the syllabic arrangement of 5,7,5, and it stems originally from Japan. It naturally mimics more the quiet observation of a deep moment of awareness.

Both styles of poetry illustrate the similarity / dissimilarity of how each country has used poetry to create a distinctive uniqueness — soulfulness. What I personally like about both styles is that it gives us a new perspective to experience the fullness of life — even the way we look at our challenges. After all, a Zen proverb reminds us — when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at changes, too.