from Douglas Moore’s Art of Quotation
“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”
Month: June 2018
from To the Tune of “Partridge Sky” by Su Tung-p’o in way of acknowledging the rain that fell this morning in Izmir
Thanks to the rain that fell at the third watch last night
I got another cool day in this floating life.
translated by Burton Watson
from a line from the poem Mid-Autumn Moon by Su Tung-p’o even though it is not autumn and there’s no moon in sight
wanting to write
a line or two
in answer
to your letter
but fear my heart
could not bear
not writing the words
between those lines
from The Nineteen Old Poems of the Han by Liu Pang: from No. 17
A traveler from afar has come
and brought a missive meant for me:
“I’ll forever think of you,” it opened
and ended “long though we be parted.”
I’ve kept that letter in my sleeve
three years, the words unfading.
That my heart, alone, should cling to such a little thing. . .
My only fear, that you don’t know.
translated by J.P. Seaton
from The Nineteen Old Poems of the Han by Liu Pang: No. 6
I forded the River to pluck the hibiscus,
and in the orchid marsh of many fragrant grasses:
To whom shall I give what I have taken?
The one I think of is on a far-off way;
does he still turn to gaze on his old home?
On the long road the distance slowly grows,
the single heart we share is forced to dwell in two places:
naught but grief and worry as slowly we grow old.
translated by J.P. Seaton
old recipes
something as simple
as reading old recipes
bring thoughts of distant times
of kitchens long ago
of people no longer present
of someone
I used to be
before evolving
into the man in this kitchen
today
my turn
watch trains
go south north
this way that
people come go
soon my turn
back and forth
in life
10 Rules of Writing, No. 3: “… All that matters is what you leave on the page.”
from Douglas Moore’s Art of Quotation
“Don’t romanticise your ‘vocation.’ You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no ‘writer’s lifestyle.’ All that matters is what you leave on the page.”
Zadie Smith, writer
there’s life
there’s Baileys
sweetening my coffee
there’s the morning
caressing the hills
there’s the cat
stretched out on the table
there’s life
slowly coming
my way
Autumn Day on the Lake by Hsueh Ying
Sailing on the Great Lake at sunset
mist and waves and everywhere sorrow
rising and falling events of the past
who can tell me why they flow east
translated by Red Pine
Leonard Durso 