This is my contribution to a concrete poetry project organized by derek beaulieu. The idea was to work with only the materials supplied: a sheet of letraset dry-transfer lettering and a sheet of 8½ x 11" paper.

The piece is titled Ryoan-ji, and was inspired by the famous Japanese rock garden. The Ryoan-ji garden consists of fifteen stones arranged on a field of raked gravel, and is part of a Zen temple. There are many maps and photos of the garden available online.

The simplicity of the Ryoan-ji garden lent itself well to the limits of this project. The five english vowels represent the garden's five clusters of rocks, with capital letters for the largest stones. The orientation of the letters implies connections between the clusters, in the same way that the garden's gatherings of stones resonate with one another in a kind of understated harmony.

Vowels are the most essential letters of the English language, as it is almost impossible to write or pronounce words without them. A and I are also the only letters which are also words. I thought this worked well with the garden's wabi-sabi aesthetic, which evokes simplicity, tranquility, and transcendence. Attempting to pronounce the poem produces a mantra-like sound.