there was Kenny
trying to break up
a fight
that Joey couldn’t stop
that Phil got into
because of his big mouth
at White Castle
in between those belly bombs
and stale coffee
and all three
getting hell beaten out
of them
and the guy who did it
pressing charges
and poor Kenny
being over 21
is the one
who goes to jail
only to return
a year later
wearing mascara
hip hugging pants
and selling what he has
on four two street
Month: April 2016
the duration of the light 1: for Maureen
standing still
throughout
the duration
of the light
into the long
darkness
Your Hair Dried Last by Yehuda Amichai
Your hair dried last.
When we were already far from the sea,
when words and salt, which mixed on us,
separated from each other
with a sigh,
and your body no longer showed
signs of terrible antecedents.
In vain we forgot a few things on the beach,
as a pretext to return.
We did not return.
And these days I remember the days
on which your name was fixed like a name on a ship.
And how we saw, through two open doors,
a man thinking, and how we looked
at the clouds with the ancient look
we inherited from our fathers
waiting for rain,
and how at night, when the world had cooled,
your body held on to its heat a long time
like a sea.
from Songs for a Woman by Yehuda Amichai
When you smile
serious ideas suddenly get drowsy
all night the mountains keep silent at your side–
at morning, the sand goes out with you, to sea
when you do nice things to me
all heavy industry shuts down.
translated by David Rosenberg
Climbing Oxhead Mountain Temple by Tu Fu
I couldn’t stop thinking about mountains
step after step on my way to Oxhead
no longer held back by restrains
I was finally wandering without a plan
in the quiet of a flower-scented temple in spring
in the seclusion of a bamboo-veiled pond
where is that oriole singing
it hasn’t stopped the whole time
translated by Red Pine
She-Chien, Layman Tung-lin of Tzuke, Sends Me Pine Pollen Balls, Which I Am Glad to Receive–Though They Are Not Meant toBe Eaten by People in the World of Dust. I Respond with a Poem Instead of a Letter by Wei Ying-wu
From five-needle pines in beryl-blue gorges
gathered in the clouds along with the dew
you made your magic pills after summoning the immortals
thinking of benighted friends you sent some down to me
fasting before an altar today I finally ate them
suddenly the stench of mundane life seems wrong
gazing at your cloud-wrapped peak I send this back in thanks
the brass seal at my waist tugs against my heart
translated by Red Pine
Thoughts on a Quiet Night by Li Pai (Li Po)
Before my bed the light is so bright
it looks like a layer of frost
lifting my head I gaze at the moon
lying back down I think of home
translated by Red Pine
saying farewell
this last stroll
along the shore
eating ice cream
from Ali Usta
saying farewell
till seasons change
and miles melt
away
Call of the Cuckoo by Wei Ying-wu
Dew drips from tall trees on a clear summer night
in the hills to the south a cuckoo calls
the widow next door comforts her child
I turn in bed and wait for the first light
translated by Red Pine
Entertaining Adjutant Li by Wei Ying-wu
When we were fifteen we both served at court
we climbed the red steps through incense at dawn
we toured the Han Garden in bloom
and bathed on Lishan in the snow
but the immortal has flown and isn’t expected back
his advisors are scattered assuming they’re alive
meeting you today as I think about the past
one cup makes me happy, the next one sad
translated by Red Pine
Leonard Durso 