This week has a few awesome quirky holidays, including International Day of Awesomeness, Festival Of Life In Cracks Day, and International Ask a Question Day! Keeping all these in mind, I bring you the mondo poetic form, which is kind of zen in a question. Zen questions and answers session of sorts, actually!

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Poetic Sundays: The Mondo: Fill the Cracks with Awesome Zen Questions!

Being Zen is awesome in its own way, and the concept of life filling the cracks is something often seen because of nature where we see flowers coming through the cracks in the sidewalks! And given the ask a question day popping up as well this week, I landed upon the beautiful mondo from Japan.

The Mondo Poetic Form

The Mondo is a Japanese poetic form structured as a brief dialogue between a questioner and a respondent, traditionally in a teacher-student dynamic. It embodies the essence of Zen Buddhism, often exploring philosophical or natural themes in a concise, evocative exchange.

It can be brief – just one line containing both the query and its response. Or can be two stanzas, with one asking and the second answering, where each stanza has three lines of 19 syllables or less (5-7-7 or 5-7-5). While it is traditionally a collaborative effort, with one person (the teacher) asking the question and another answering it (the student, in this case), maybe it can be contemplative in nature, where the poet questions and tries to answer themselves!

The Mondo’s Characteristics

At its most basic, the mondo’s characteristics are that it is:

• Stanzaic: two stanzas of three lines each (or one brief line)
• Syllabic(or not): when in two stanzas, then follows either 5-7-7 or 5-7-5 syllabic structure (single line has no syllabic count to follow)
• Themed: nature with a Zen-spirit!
• Unrhymed
• Untitled

My Mondo Attempt at Zen Questions and Answers

what does the busy
hummingbird say when she
flies to my window some days?

she speaks in scarlet
flashes, a silent “thank you”
in each flutter of her wings

~ vidya tiru @ ladyinreadwrites

Further Reading of Zen Questions

For References/inspiration: This Mondo workshop book

Recently

On My Blog and the Home Front

These posts made their way out into the world on my blog this past week:

• Sunday Scribblings #213: It’s All in the Name!
• My Name is… and So Many Wonderful Stories Begin
• A Peek into the Library of a Lady and More
• The Wonderful Women Writers Who Write on My Bookshelf

Not much happened on the home front. It has been a pretty quiet week.

Upcoming

On My Blog and the Home Front: Some Zen Questions Maybe?

Hope to have a couple of posts out here, and get some thing started in the garden. It is going to be a rainy week though (which we need).

This Week’s Celebrations

Literary and Other Celebrations:

• Literary birthdays this week of March include: Johanna Lindsay on the 10th; Douglas Adams on the 11th; Carl Hiaasen, Dave Eggers, Edward Albee, Jack Kerouac, and Virginia Hamilton on the 12th; Alastair Reynolds on the 13th; 15th is Ben Okri; the 16th Alice Hoffman
• The 12th of March observes World Day Against Cyber Censorship and Alfred Hitchcock Day
• March 13th reminds us to help others with National Good Samaritan Day.
• Then of course it is National Pi Day on 3/14 as well as International Day of Mathematics
• March 14th is also National Write Down Your Story Day and Science Education Day
• Then we have World Speech Day on March 15th
• Followed by National Freedom of Information Day on the 16th of March.

Foodie Celebrations

• The 10th of March observes National Blueberry Popover Day
• March 11th is National Oatmeal Nut Waffles Day and National Sofrito Day
• The 12th seems the day to celebrate with Girl Scout Cookies (for it is Girl Scout Day)
• National Coconut Torte Day is celebrated every year on March 13.
• The 14th celebrates National Potato Chip Day and Bake a Pie in Solidarity Day.
• March 15th is National Pears Helene Day and National Peanut Lovers Day
• Celebrate National Artichoke Hearts Day on the 16th

Other Celebrations

• National Mario Day is on the 10th of March and it is also International Day of Awesomeness and Festival Of Life In Cracks Day.
• March 11th observes National Johnny Appleseed Day, National Dream Day, and National Worship of Tools Day. So very similar to a festival many South Indians celebrate in fall, called Ayudha Puja (ayudha means instruments; puja means worship)
• While the 12th of March is National Girl Scout Day, National Plant a Flower Day, and National Working Moms Day.
• International Every Girl Wins Day is celebrated on March 13
• Followed by National Children’s Craft Day, National Learn About Butterflies Day,  Equal Pay Day, Genius Day, and International Ask a Question Day on the 14th of March. It is also World Sleep Day
• It is National Everything You Think is Wrong Day on the 15th.
• After all things wrong, it is Everything You Do Is Right Day on the 16th of March as well as National Panda Day

Wrapping up my Sunday Scribblings

So dear reader, this was it for my Sunday Scribblings. I would love to hear your comments on my post(s), poetic Sunday section, and anything else. And which of these days do you plan to celebrate (or any other)? Also, I do look forward to reading your poems (if you have attempted one or the other forms so far?!) 

Linking this to the Sunday Post over at the Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday Salon