Inside I could hear
a party of people
the aimless cars
and in the middle distance
inexorable murmurs
of the ice machines.
Dispersion and Convergence by Tom Clark
Like musical instruments
Abandoned in a field
The parts of your feelings
Are starting to know a quiet
The pure conversion of your
Life into art seems destined
Never to occur
You don’t mind
You feel spiritual and alert
As the air must feel
Turning into sky aloft and blue
You feel like
You’ll never feel like touching anything or anyone
Again
And then you do
big dog by Anselm Hollo
i bring you
this head,
full of breath–
takingly beautiful
images of yourself
& put it in
your lap.
now i breathe
more quietly.
now you pat me.
now i sign.
in a moment or two
i’ll get up and
be a man again.
from To Dispel the Cold: Two Poems on Spring: I: Small Pavilion by Hung Liang-chi
Where is the first sign of spring?
Spring comes earliest to a small pavilion:
Upon the shadow of a bamboo blind in the moonlight,
In the tender notes from a flute in the breeze,
In the greening of a branch breaking out at the tip,
In the drippings of a candle of red passion.
In the whispered words overheard past midnight,
In the scented breath wafted beyond the wall.
translated by Irving Lo
here is now
you say
I’ll wait for you
but sadly I know
daysweeksmonthsyears
melt into one
no one waits long
for one who doesn’t come
for here is now
and now I am
Mad Words by Yüan Mei
To learn to be without desire, you must desire that;
Better to do as you please: sing idleness:
Floating clouds and water running—where’s their source?
In all the vastness of the sea and sky, you’ll never find it.
translated by J.P. Seaton
Willow Flowers by Yüan Mei
Willow flowers, snowflakes
The same; they’re feckless—
No matter whose garden they fall in,
They always follow the wind away.
translated by J.P. Seaton
