I love haiku. I especially love haiku translations that capture the sense of the original: short, sweet and to the point. Basho Summer grasses:all that remains of great soldiers’imperial dreams Traveling this high mountain trail, delighted by violets The old pond,A frog jumps in:Plop! Issa A world of dew,and within every dewdropa world of struggle …
Category Archive: poetry
Apr 29 2009
Poem o’ the Day
Tomorrow’s Poem in Your Pocket Day, don’t forget. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours. It struck me today that I’ve been a little heavy on the male poets. It’s not that I don’t like female poets. It’s just that I don’t know many. So I took a stroll through Wikipedia’s List of …
Apr 28 2009
Poem o’ the Day
There’s a story behind Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan.” You might have heard it: At the time of its publication, Coleridge subtitled it “A Vision in a Dream. A Fragment” and added a prefatory note explaining its unusual origin. The poet remarked that after taking some opium for medication, he grew drowsy while reading a …
Apr 27 2009
Poem o’ the Day
You all know I buggered off to watch House last night. And that’s the inspiration for today’s poetry. I’m not a huge fan of William Butler Yeats, but I have to admit that hearing this one read aloud was delightful: Her Praise She is foremost of those that I would hear praised.I have gone about …
Apr 27 2009
Words and Music
When Simon & Garfunkel songs get lodged in my head, they’re usually songs like “The Sound of Silence” or “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” possibly “Mrs. Robinson” or “The Boxer.” They’re one of the bands my dad and I used to listen to together. Stuff like this makes you realize the ol’ dad is kinda cool …
Apr 26 2009
Poem o’ the Day
All right, I know we’ve done W.H. Auden, but this poem came up while I searched for something else, and it delighted me. Therefore, more Auden. If I could tell you Time will say nothing but I told you so,Time only knows the price we have to pay;If I could tell you I would let …
Apr 25 2009
Poem o’ the Day
All right, here it is, the moment none of you have been waiting for: a Dana Hunter original that didn’t come from an NP writing assignment. This poor piece has been ripped from its context as part of a poetry war. But I like to flatter myself by thinking it stands fairly well on its …
Apr 24 2009
Poem o’ the Day
Every once in a while, synchronicity happens. I’ve got a scene coalescing in my head for this current story, in which the stark contrasts between beauty and horror come up. My folks are warriors. They see the worst. But they’ve also seen extraordinary beauty, which just about makes the ugliness they have to deal with …
Apr 23 2009
Poem o’ the Day
The problem with being young is that you haven’t enough experience or knowledge to appreciate things. They also don’t tell you the really juicy stuff that heightens your appreciation. So I never liked Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “Ozymandias.” Some dead bugger with a silly name using fancy language to talk about some old broken statue. …
Apr 22 2009
Poem o’ the Day
I sincerely hope my heart sister NP won’t mind me filching her latest, because it made me LOL, and it deserves to be my Poem o’ the Day. to do I have a list of things to do today of tasks needing completion errands needing run chores needing accomplished but as the morning drags on …
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