is time always new .?
then what was that river
that passed
by you yesterday
in which I'm standing now
the forest i know, 2021
Kala Ramesh
Commentary: Allusive/in response to Heraclitus' teaching on ever-present change as being the fundamental essence of the universe as stated in the following famous saying:
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.
Kala's thought-provoking tanka explores the concept of ever-changing time, L1 (is time always new .?) in the context of a relationship: Ls 2-5, what was that river/that passed/by you yesterday/in which I'm standing now. If (the river of) time is ever-changing, then are we (you and I in ls 4&5) the same persons in the same relationship?
The tanka doesn't give an answer or a hint. However, the interesting punctuation marks at the end of L1 stirs the reader's imagination. First, a blank space lets time and the line flow onward. Then, a period stops the flow, followed immediately by a questioning of the full stop.
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