A Year of Sijo Poetry
Who is it that seeks the memory of the Great Blue Heron?
A dozen Moons and hundreds of Suns have passed by overhead.
Thoughts and memories appearing to fade away quietly.
Who is it that seeks the memory of the Great Blue Heron?
It has been one year since I posted my first sijo on Substack. I posted my first sijo on October 20, 2023. The photo above is from my first sijo about a Great Blue Heron that I had seen hunting. My first sijo post is linked below:
How has writing sijo helped me?
Writing sijo has helped me appreciate Nature much more deeply. Writing sijo has helped me distill my experiences of Nature down to 3 lines of poetry. My sijo writing has helped me meditate on my encounters with Nature.
Wait - what is a sijo?
Sijo is a Korean poetry form started from the late 1200s CE. Sijo have 3 lines and have 14-16 syllables per line. A sijo introduces a theme in the first line. The second line develops that theme. The final line often adds a twist ending.
Most of my sijo follow a 15-syllable count per line. The central theme of my sijo is Nature. For the past few months, the final line in my sijo has included a question.
Why Meditations on Nature and Korean-style Sijo poems?
What started as a way to connect my interests in writing, Nature, and Korean culture, has become an important part of my life. Sijo writing has become a meditation and a thread that connects the things of my life together.
To close out a year of writing Korean-style sijo poetry, I would like to share this video of Canada Geese migrating from Mud Lake at Britannia Conservation Area here in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. I took this video just before dawn on October 14, 2024.
I feel both happy and sad when I hear the geese honking and rallying each other in Autumn. I am happy to hear the geese rally and cheer each other on as a group. I am sad though knowing that soon the geese will be gone and the lake will become quiet.
Thank you
I want to say thank you to all of my readers. I wish you well in your own efforts to connect with Nature. May you all find peace and joy in your creative endeavours.
English - Korean:
Poem = 시 / Si (pronounced like ‘she.’)
Sijo = 시조 / Sijo (pronounced like ‘she-jo.’)
I also feel a thrill when I hear the Canada Geese passing overhead and honking their vocalizations. It is such a familiar sound, a sound of comfort and recognition. How much I welcome the sound of their return, telling us humans it is winter's end. That we need to prepare for Spring.
There are so many ways to commune with Nature, and the more we do so, the more we understand. And understanding is the key to finding our place, our place of peace and harmony. Thanks, Neil, for your Sijo and your photos and videos of what you see and feel in your walks.🐦🦜🕊
Neil, you have brought a lot of value to these Substack communities. At least, to me, I find your creative poems, amazing photos/videos, your sincere tone in writing have inspired me. So happy you addressed some puzzles in my head whiling reading that three lines without knowing the originality of it. Thank you 🙏.