“The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is sometimes willing to commit sins for the sake of loyalty, that one does not push asceticism to the point where it makes friendly intercourse impossible, and that one is prepared in the end to be defeated and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one’s love upon other human individual’s.”
Month: October 2013
the sound of your voice
the sound of your voice
that hint of an accent charms
yet how can I listen
and not have my heart crack
knowing you whisper to another
in the night
a tanka by Ariwara No Narihira
Though winds blow,
coloring the
autumn bush clover,
my heart is no grass or leaf
that changes hue
4 line tanka by Fujiwara No Teika
I lifted her black hair
strand by strand–
the way she lay face down
rises in my mind
a question unable to ask: for M
if I came for you
would you open willingly
or close completely
to my subtle advances
leaving me out in the rain
where I am: Michael’s lament
still very much alone
haunted by his memories
what it could have been
what it was, images of
what probably lies ahead
most of the time: Beppe’s modus operandi
I walk a straight line
I stay on the page
I see what’s coming from behind
know the lay of the land
the way the cookie crumbles
but then again
there are those times
I get blindsided by my own self
and I’m left twisting
in the proverbial wind
a fool is a fool is a fool
who thinks he’s too smart
to be stupid
a three line tanka by Ishikawa Takuboku
A vague sadness
comes with the night
stealthily and sits on my bed.
a haiku: on invitations to tea
insincerity
is like a slap in the face
one’s cheek burns for weeks
adrift: for M
floating, floating
there is no end to this
the waning candle
the cat under the table
the whiskey in the glass
the book unfinished by the bed
another night in exile
waiting for the dawn
Leonard Durso 