On a haiku site I discover enso. One poet uses them alongside her verses. Intrigued, I google.
I come away with the idea that an enso is both a figure in Japanese calligraphy and a way of Zen meditation.
One draws a circle freehand, open or closed, a continuous line (sometimes two). I understand it encompasses everything. Also it's the void.
This practice is not a striving for the perfect circle. (Nor is it done thoughtlessly.) Each is valid in itself. It’s an exploration of inner space.
Excited – all Western impatience, no in-depth research – I dive right in, thrilled with the idea of meditation by doing.
Though I don’t dare think I’m an artist, I sometimes draw, just for me.
I grab sketch-book, brushes, water-colours (not ink) and draw an enso a day: each one a different colour. After I’ve been through all colours, I resolve, I’ll repeat in different media.
Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, founder of City Lights bookshop – hugely important in the history of literature – dies aged 101. I write a three-line tribute.
I want to post this on Instagram. Instagram is a visual medium. I try to make micropoems I post there look as good as I can, but this time I take things further. I print the text, cut it out, and paste it in the centre of my latest enso.
I photograph the result, run the photo through filters on my iPhone, then edit it for vibrance, clarity, saturation….
‘Beautiful tribute,’ someone comments, ‘– art and words.’
My friend – a real, marvellous artist – has a birthday. A mystical four-line poem comes to me. I realise it’s a portrait of her. I put that inside an enso too. (I try handwriting this one at first, but my writing doesn’t please my eye.)
I take a photo, manipulate it as before, print it, label it a portrait of her, and laminate it.
When I give it to her, her eyes widen, she gasps and holds it to her heart a moment.
I toy with the idea of a different shape that I might use around a poem. I think I will, perhaps very soon. Also, I won’t stop drawing my meditative daily enso.
369 words written in response to Weekly Scribblings #59 at Poets and Storytellers United, and specifically inspired by a line from the musical Hamilton: 'I'm looking for a mind at work'. I don't know much about that musical, but my mind has been working on something new lately, as described above. Then I recollected that art is not work but play.
Note:
My artist friend is also an amazing gardener.
Images:
1. Ensō (c. 2000) by Kanjuro Shibata XX. Available for use via Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0
2 and 3 © Rosemary Nissen-Wade 2021.