watching from afar
hearts will break in two in three
pieces fall away
there is no easy way out
and staying is harder still
Month: September 2013
Full Moon by Juan Ramon Jimenez
The door is open,
the cricket is singing.
Are you going around naked
in the fields?
Like an immortal water,
going in and out of everything.
Are you going around naked
in the air?
The basil is not asleep,
the ant is busy.
Are you going around naked
in the house?
translated by Robert Bly
Magic Words To Make You Feel Better (Eskimo poem)
SEA GULL
who flaps his wings
over my head
in the blue air,
you GULL up there
dive down
come here
take me with you
in the air!
Wings flash by
my mind’s eye
and I’m up there sailing
in the cool air,
a-a-a-a-a-ah,
in the air.
translated by Knut Rasmussen
untitled poem by Hwang Chin-i
Mountains are steadfast but the mountain streams
Go by, go by,
And yesterdays are like rushing streams,
They fly, they fly,
And the great heroes, famous for a day,
They die, they die.
translated by Peter H. Lee
I May, I Might, I Must by Marianne Moore
If you will tell me why the fen
appears impassable, I then
will tell you why I think that I
can get across it if I try.
from Strong Wine by Hafiz
Winebringer, more wine! Bring me some of that strong wine that no one else
Can drink. I want to become unconscious and free of this world for a while.
I know that there’s no safety from the perils of the sky,
With the siren harp of Venus and the bloody sword of Mars.
In this age of meanness and deceit, at the world’s table,
There is no place for joy. And the food is prepared with too much salt.
So drink wine and wash your palate, so your greedy thirst will go away.
translated by Thomas Rain Crowe
Margarita DeAngelis
Margarita was ripe
before her time
at thirteen she was with the bad boys
causing Timmy Jessen’s downfall
and giving Jimmy Johnson one month of bliss
at fifteen she dated college boys
and though I was long gone
by her eighteenth year
I’m sure she married well
she once confessed to me
she did not want to end up
like her older sister Francine
handed off from the Galtieri brothers
to Tony Esposito
and then down the line
this in a moment of self-reflection
they all often had with me
but I do believe
she made it out
if anyone did
with fewer scars
and even less memories
a tanka: for Guitar Girl
guitar girl strumming
music to soothe her own soul
joyous in her world
a smile on her lips so bright
love in her fingers for life
The Way by Robert Creeley
My love’s manners in bed
are not to be discussed by me,
as mine by her
I would not credit comment upon gracefully.
Yet I ride by the margin of that lake in
the wood, the castle,
and the excitement of strongholds;
and have a small boy’s notion of doing good.
Oh well, I will say here,
knowing each man,
let you find a good wife too,
and love her as hard as you can.
Later (6) by Robert Creeley
If you saw
dog pass, in car–
looking out, possibly
indifferently, at you–
would you–could you–
shout, “Hey, Spot!
It’s me!” After all
these years,
no dog’s coming home
again. Its skin’s
moldered
through rain, dirt,
to dust, hair alone
survives, matted tangle.
Your own, changed,
your hair, greyed,
your voice not the one
used to call him home.
“Hey Spot!” The world’s
greatest dog’s got
lost in the world,
got lost long ago.
Leonard Durso 