08 March 2021 – White on Black

White on Black – A Memorial Poem by CatherineStenzel

As you read my most recent poem, you may feel cultural vertigo, and with good reason. The poem includes one Eastern nation, Japan, the Indigenous Nations of North America, and one continent, North America. I’ve attempted to interweave “voices” from these three between the lines and in the stanzas. The poem’s tapestry focuses on what Buddhists call “the great matters” – life and death. Not an either/or view. Not a one-is-good, and the other-is-bad perspective. Rather, the Middle Way of neither-for-nor-against. 

White on Black

All in white, meeting at the dark crossroads

Snowy Owl swoops over mouse

Black Wolf midnight ears stand to hear the hunter coming

Northern Pine Snake shrouds black strike, coils asleep

Black Bear lumbers to the winter den

White Cat chases black-spotted dog unknowing

San

Star-net binds dark matter in silver

Impossible black Tiger Lily flaunts white petals

Child draws dark stars on white paper

Black music notes flow on stiff white paper

Carbon eye of the diamond

Pinpoint of light in a Bat’s eye

Sun creates white moon

Moon-shadow embraces sun

Dusk turned dark

Ni

Sacred Fuji-san’s snow cap supported by shadows

Inked shodo brush sweeps across ryoshi paper

100-year-old ink stick finds daylight

Black on white sutra with no name

Ichi

Quivering on the boundary

black and white just the same

just a Snow Leopard watching above

just an ivory Tiger’s black stripes below

just black diamonds on a moon-watching night

Black Dragon weeps white tears

Background

At the middle and at the end of last month, my much-loved teacher, an Issei (first generation Japanese who emigrated to North and to South America), honored his mother’s and his grandfather’s passing in a traditional Japanese memorial, the 58th for his grandfather, and the 2nd for his mother. These two ancestors were more than relatives. They (and several others) bequeathed to my teacher the lineage of a samurai clan, the preservation of Japanese culture and traditions, and because my teacher’s family cared for, administered to, and lived on the grounds of a Buddhist temple, with a long history on that path, as well as a long line of Buddhist priests. My teacher is the Keimogi, the lineage holder, for his samurai family, a Shingon Buddhist priest, and the holder of a 7th degree black belt in Aikido, authorized by the Aikido Foundation (Hombu Dojo) in Tokyo.

I am familiar with the Japanese custom of honoring ancestors, especially memorials of the date of death, a practice diametrically opposed to the Western observance of birthdays. Birthday celebrations could be interpreted as counting the years headed for death. In contrast, the Japanese annual remembrance of those who have passed on counts the years past the sufferings of this existence and the number of years – well that’s a good question because not all Eastern religions and spiritual paths believe in reincarnation or even a life after death. Some do but drawing conclusions about the memorial tradition is complicated.

Exploration 1: The numerals one, two, three are respectively ichi, ni, san, in Japanese. They are related to a number of things. Please offer your interpretation of their place in the poem. Why are the number sequence three, two, one, rather than one, two, three?

Exploration 2: What do you make of the relationship expressed in the proximity and pairing of “black” and “white” in the poem?

Exploration 3: Who is the “Black Dragon”?