“What though youth gave love and roses,
Age still leaves us friends and wine.”
Author: zdunno03
on men & women: following a conversation with B
“Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud;
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,
And loathsome canker lives in sweetest buds.
All men make faults”
William Shakespeare
“In matters of sentiment, the public has very crude ideas; and the most shocking fault of women is that they make the public the supreme judge of their lives.”
Stendhal
on conversation: a tanka for B
finally to talk
to someone about the things
that matter to me
books poetry written words
life beyond life’s drudgery
Invocation by Sowol Kim
O, name shattered.
O, name vanished into thin air.
O, name without response to my call.
O, name I will be calling till death.
You’ve gone before, I have said,
one last word etched on my heart.
O, my love nearest my heart,
nearest my heart.
The red sun hangs over the western peaks.
Even a herd of deer laments.
I am calling to you
as I stand on a lone hill.
I call to you till sorrow chokes me,
sorrow chokes me.
But my voice rings hollow in the vast void
between heaven and earth.
Should I turn to stone
I will be calling to you.
O, my love nearest my heart,
nearest my heart.
translated by Jaihiun Kim & Ronald B. Hatch
the things we do: for Jimmy
when you asked me
to be best man
at your wedding
I didn’t realize
I had to embellish
the wild stories you told your niece
in my speech
but being your friend
I told of how you saved all of us
on the tour bus
from an alligator attack
in the Everglades
and on a fishing trip
battled pirates single-handedly
and thus saved the ship
Jimmy, old friend
the things we do for each other
so okay, the alligators
I can understand
I mean there were dozens of them
sunning themselves
and there could have been a feeding frenzy
the tour bus occupants being lunch
and you gallantly saving the day
bopping them on their snouts
kicking them back into the swamp
but pirates, Jimmy
outside Miami
that was a stretch
I did out of loyalty
for you
I did bring up those parking tickets
hundreds tumbling out of your glove compartment
back in BG
and you snickering
in that car of yours
you insisted I broke the rods
in the roof
while climbing on top of the hood
with alcoholic fueled bravado
a year later though
you got even
by driving over my foot
with your “mean red machine” van
one night
on our way to Lucy’s Burritos
which we could only find
drunk and at two in the morning
did we really drink that much
in those days
with you pulling on the beards of Texans
arguing with cops on Sunset Blvd
over the definition of jaywalking
and who won that race up the hill
in Malibu
Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy
my dear old friend
I miss your wit
your insightful comments
that sparkle in your eyes
just before trouble starts
how sad it is for me
to know we are both settling
ten thousand miles apart
me between Asia and Europe
you on the coast of Mexico
my only hope
one day
is to meet somewhere in between
so you can save us all
from the barbarians
for the first time
once again
Written By Chance by Li Ch’ing-chao
Fifteen years ago, beneath moonlight and flowers,
I walked with you
We composed flower-viewing poems together.
Tonight the moonlight and flowers are just the same
But how can I ever hold in my arms the same love.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth & Ling Chung
To The Tune “Plum Blossoms Fall And Scatter” by Li Ch’ing-chao
The perfume of the red water lilies
Dies away. The Autumn air
Penetrates the pearl jade curtain.
Torches gleam on the orchid boats.
Who has sent me a message
Of love from the clouds? It is
The time when the wild swans
Return. The moonlight floods the women’s
Quarters. Flowers, after their
Nature, whirl away in the wind.
Spilt water, after its nature
Flows together at the lowest point.
Those who are of one being
Can never stop thinking of each other.
But, ah, my dear, we are apart,
And I have become used to sorrow.
This love–nothing can ever
Make it fade or disappear.
For a moment it was on my eyebrows,
Now it is heavy in my heart.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
on humor: for Little Chuck
there was this woman
who lived in Big Chuck’s building
and had an interest in him
even though he was not interested in her
in that way
but enjoyed her company
and that of her mother, too
anyway
Big Chuck reads a lot
sometimes 2 or 3 books at once
and this woman to impress him
I think
told him how much she loved
The DaVinci Code
which she had read like
a hundred times
when Big Chuck told this
to Little Chuck
at the donut shop
late one night
Little Chuck said
Ah, lover of book
or the time
Big Chuck took Little Chuck
to a party
and Big Chuck was charming
a rather attractive Russian woman
and Little Chuck
upon discovering she was from Russia
asked how the squirrel and the moose were doing
a reference to a cartoon show
totally lost on the lady
and she became totally lost
to Big Chuck
as a result
and finally
when Little Chuck learned
that my house in NY
was next to the train tracks
he became obsessed about my safety
imagining trains flying off the tracks
and crashing into my house
and began sending me notices
of train derailments
and a gift of a blinking RR light
to warn me of any danger
coming my way
though the only real danger
is losing the friendship
to the distance
between us now
these thousands of miles away
I Live My Life In Growing Orbits by Rainer Maria Rilke
I live my life in growing orbits
which move out over the things of the world.
Perhaps I can never achieve the last,
but that will be my attempt.
I am circling around God, around the ancient tower,
and I have been circling for a thousand years,
and I still don’t know if I am a falcon, or a storm,
or a great song.
translated by Robert Bly
untitled poem by The Emperor Yozei
Tsukuba ne no
Mine yori otsuru
Minano gawa
Koi zo tsumorite
Fuchi to narikeru
Falling from the ridge
Of high Tsukuba,
The Minano River
At last gathers itself,
Like my love, into
A deep, still pool.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
Leonard Durso 