What's up?

Dave Bonta’s question poem, Questions about birds, reminded me of a conversation I once had with a young man, let’s call him Narayan, who was a student of J. Krishnamurti. Narayan suggested we try a discussion technique he had learned from Krishnamurti that involved only asking questions. Here are his guidelines:

  • The first person to speak asks a question, which is followed with contemplative silence. Really think about the question, let it sink in.
  • Respond with a question of your own that comes to your mind after mindfully considering the question.
  • The next person follows the same pattern, considering the second question, and so on.

I’d like to try an experiment on this blog that follows Narayan’s line of inquiry. All you need to do is read my question here, or, if someone has responded with a question, reply to that one with a question of your own in the comments section. After a few days I’ll post all the questions in one post. Feel free to grab one and start a new line of inquiry on your own blog.

I’d like to add one more caveat: try not to ask a loaded question, or a rhetorical one. Keep your mind open and curious.

Question: What’s the missing puzzle piece?

Published by Christine

Christine Swint’s poems have appeared in Calyx, Birmingham Poetry Review, Slant, a Journal of Poetry, Tampa Review, Heron Tree, Ekphrasis, and others. Her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best New Poets, and she has won first place prizes from the Georgia Poetry Society and Agnes Scott College. Her first collection, Swimming This, was published in 2015 by FutureCycle Press. She teaches first-year composition at a metro-Atlanta university and writes about poetry, art, hiking, and yoga at Balanced on the Edge, https://balancedonedge.blog Twitter @christine_swint

10 thoughts on “What's up?”

  1. paisley says:
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    must not one first have viewed the puzzle, complete, as it is devoid of that one piece before they can even tell whether or not such a piece is missing????

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  2. baskar says:
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    If so, can it be that there is no single ‘missing’ piece of the puzzle, but the puzzle organises itself through association?

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  5. dale says:
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    Is the puzzle missing the piece, or are we missing the puzzle? Or if it really is the piece that’s missing, is it missing the puzzle or is it missing us?

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