tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183943462024-03-16T11:50:36.659-07:00Inward Bound PoetryAny publishers interested in this anthology?
Poetry selections from Bookgleaner@gmail.com -
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Also:
http://Outwardboundideas.blogspot.com -
http://Onwardboundhumor.blogspot.com -
http://Homewardboundphotos.blogspot.com -
And http://davidthemaker.blogspot.com/Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.comBlogger1141125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-50803989279104855072024-03-16T08:06:00.000-07:002024-03-16T08:06:52.741-07:001146. Half a Double Sonnet - Mary Jo Salter<p><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>For Ben</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 27px;"><i></i><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Their ordeal over, now the only trouble</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">was conveying somehow to a boy of three</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">that for a week or two he’d be seeing double.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Surely he wouldn’t recall the surgery</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">years later, but what about the psychic scars?</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And so, when the patch come off, they bought the toy</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">he’d wanted most. He held it high “Two Cars!”</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">he cried; and drove himself from joy to joy.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Two baby sisters… One was enough of Clare,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">but who could complain—conderring that another</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">woman had stepped forward to take care</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">of the girls, which left him all alone with Mother.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Victory! Even when he went to pee,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">he was seconded in his virility.</p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-17450870889227021982024-03-09T19:45:00.000-08:002024-03-09T19:45:10.127-08:001145. Grenimi AI - Winged Icarus<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgO5fr2vAQj3qRH_7BtAsmQYFPq4Ag8AwE5Evj7Jm0TcrnpKctyoepZ43GCdhHJf7_U7_ERtA7fB5HiXa4Bwbzowsb-PTsa5j37JBmH-9OfQLR6cpNPKYYVreWF_Fn_vcsIOx0QeuE8b-OqT6JCapE6sG_skI76XgFc113lMWSFWjPlqnn3ciam" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="236" data-original-width="370" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgO5fr2vAQj3qRH_7BtAsmQYFPq4Ag8AwE5Evj7Jm0TcrnpKctyoepZ43GCdhHJf7_U7_ERtA7fB5HiXa4Bwbzowsb-PTsa5j37JBmH-9OfQLR6cpNPKYYVreWF_Fn_vcsIOx0QeuE8b-OqT6JCapE6sG_skI76XgFc113lMWSFWjPlqnn3ciam" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="color: #131313; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i>"</i></b></span><span style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;"><b><i>Wow! I asked t</i></b></span><span style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i>he </i></b></span><span style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;"><b><i>Gemini </i></b></span><span style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i>AI </i></b></span><span style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;"><b><i>to write a poem about the fall of Icarus</i></b></span></p><p style="color: #131313; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;"><b><i>and this is what I got.</i></b></span><span style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> "</i></b></span></p><div><span style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><p style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">On fragile wings, ambition soared,</span></p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Icarus, by Daedalus adored.</span></p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Escaped they did, from island's plight,</span></p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">With feathers stitched and sunlit flight.</span></p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">The world unfurled, a boundless blue,</span></p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">But warnings wise, fell from his view.</span></p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Intoxicated, by heights unknown,</span></p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">He chased the sun, upon its throne.</span></p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Too close he danced, with fiery might,</span></p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">The waxen bond, could not withstand the light.</span></p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">A silent scream, a feathery rain,</span></p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Icarus fell, a sun-kissed stain.</span></p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">The waves embraced, his tragic fate,</span></p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">A fleeting dream, sealed by his haste.</span></p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">A lesson writ, in sky and sea,</span></p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Of hubris tamed, and mortality.</span></p></span></div>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-87192294298719592422024-02-24T11:52:00.000-08:002024-02-24T11:52:09.260-08:001144. Addressed Humorously to Tu Fu - Li Po (705-762 A.D.)<p> <span style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><i style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 18px;">Translated by Shigeyoshi Obata</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Here! is this you on the top of Fan-ko Moutain,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wearing a huge hat in the noonday sun?</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How thin, how wretchedly, you have grown!</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">You must have been suffering from poetry again.</p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-26961104431733455052024-02-23T07:50:00.000-08:002024-02-23T07:50:24.441-08:001143. A Game Of Chess - Gwen Harwood<p><i style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px;">To John Brodie</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Nightfall: the town’s chromatic nocturne wakes</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">dark brilliance on the river; colours drift</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and tremble as enormous shadows lift</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Orion to his place. The heart remakes</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">that peace torn in the blaze of day. Inside</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">your room are music, warmth and wine, the board</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">with chessmen set for play. The harpsichord</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">begins a fugue; delight is multiplied.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A game: the heart’s impossible ideal —</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">to choose among a host of paths, and know</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">that if the kingdom crumbles one can yield</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and have the choice again. Abstract and real</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">joined in their trance of thought, the two players show</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the calm of gods above a troubled field. </p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-76329157047578747682024-02-05T16:49:00.000-08:002024-02-05T16:49:02.310-08:001142. On The Birth Of A Son - Su Shih (Su Tung-Po) (1036-1101 A.D.) - <p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Translated by Arther Waley</i></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Families when a child is born</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Hope it will turn out intelligent.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I, through intelligence,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Having wrecked by whole life,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Only hope the baby will prove</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ignorant and stupid.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then he’ll be happy all his days</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And grow into a cabinet minister.</p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-11113244136269413902024-01-28T10:07:00.000-08:002024-01-28T10:07:55.939-08:001141. Late Self-Portrait by Rembrandt - Jane Hirshfield<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The dog, dead for years, keeps coming back in the dream.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We look at each other there with the old joy.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was always her gift to bring me into the present—</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Which sleeps, changes, awakens, dresses, leaves</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Happiness and unhappiness</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">differ as a bucket hammered from gold differs from one of</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>pressed tin,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">this painting proposes.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Each carries the same water, it says.</p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-30367792046242495582024-01-13T08:40:00.000-08:002024-01-13T08:40:59.377-08:001140. Arithmetic - Carl Sandburg<p><br /></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Arithmetic is where numbers fly like pigeons </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>in and out of your head.</span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Arithmetic tells you how many you lose or win </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>if you know how many you had </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>before you lost or won.</span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Arithmetic is seven eleven all good children </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>go to heaven — or five six bundle of sticks.</span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Arithmetic is numbers you squeeze from your head </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>to your hand to your pencil to your paper </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>till you get the answer.</span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Arithmetic is where the answer is right </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>and everything is nice and you can look </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>out of the window and see the blue sky — or the</span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>answer is wrong and you have to start all over </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>and try again and see how it comes out this time.</span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">If you take a number and double it and double it again </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>and then double it a few more times, the number </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>gets bigger and bigger and goes higher and higher </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>and only arithmetic can tell you what the number is </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>when you decide to quit doubling.</span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Arithmetic is where you have to multiply — </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>and you carry the multiplication table in your head and </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>hope you won't lose it.</span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">If you have two animal crackers, one good and one bad, </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>and you eat one and a striped zebra </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>with streaks all over him eats the other, </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>how many animal crackers will you have if somebody</span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>offers you five six seven and you say No no no and you say</span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Nay nay nay and you say Nix nix nix?</span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">If you ask your mother for one fried egg for breakfast and </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>she gives you two fried eggs and you eat both of them, </span></p>
<p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>who is better in arithmetic, you or your mother?</span></p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-72670335731038711372024-01-01T18:59:00.000-08:002024-01-01T18:59:21.528-08:001139. The Song Of The Lark - David Whyte<p><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The song begins and the eyes are lifted</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">but the sickle points toward the ground,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">its downward curve forgotten in the song she hears,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">while over the dark wood, rising or falling,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the sun lifts on cool air,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the small body of a singing lark. </p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The song falls, the eyes raise, the mouth opens</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and her bare feet on the earth have stopped.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Whoever listens in this silence, as she listens,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">will also stand opened, thoughtless, frightened</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">by the joy she feels, the pathway in the field</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">branching to a hundred more, no one has explored.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What is called in her rises from the ground</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and is found in her body,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">what she is given is secret even from her.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This silence is the seed in her</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">of everything she is</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and falling through her body</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">to the ground from which she comes,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">it finds a hidden place to grow</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and rises, and flowers, in old wild places,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">where the dark-edged sickle cannot go. </p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-60441661758474141292023-12-24T18:37:00.000-08:002024-01-13T09:01:44.437-08:001138. When The Shoe Fits - Chuang Tzu -<p><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Translated by Thomas Merto</i>n</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ch’ui the draftsman</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Could draw more perfect circles freehand</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Than with a compass.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">His fingers brought forth</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Spontaneous forms from nowhere. His mind</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Was meanwhile free and without concern</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">With what he was doing.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">No application was needed</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">His mind was perfectly simple</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and knew no obstacle. </p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So, when the shoe fits</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The foot is forgotten,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When the belt fits</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The belly is forgotten,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When the heart is right</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“For” and “against” are forgotten.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">No drives, no compulsions,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">No needs, no attractions:</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then your affairs</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Are under control. </p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">You are a free man.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Easy is right. Begin right</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And you are easy.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Continue easy and you are right.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The right way to go easy</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Is to forget the right way</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And forget that the going is easy.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-5940810981774068752023-12-17T07:15:00.000-08:002023-12-17T07:15:23.725-08:001137. This Only - Czesław Milosz<p><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A valley and above it forests in autumn colors.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A voyager arrives, a map led him here.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Or perhaps memory. Once, long ago, in the sun,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When the first snow fell, riding this way</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He felt joy, strong, without reason,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Joy of the eyes. Everything was the rhythm</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Of shifting trees, of a bird in flight,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Of a train on the viaduct, a feast of motion.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He returns years later, has no demands.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He wants only one, most precious thing:</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To see, purely and simply, without name,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Without expectations, fears, or hopes,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At the edge where there is no I or not-I.</p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-24343162537479991092023-11-29T08:15:00.000-08:002023-11-29T08:15:50.735-08:001136. What Is The Opposite Of A Prince? - Richard Wilber<p><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What is the opposite of a <i>Prince?</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> A <i>frog </i>must be the answer, since,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As all good fairy stories tell,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When some witch says a magic spell,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Causing the prince to be disguised</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So that he won’t be recognized,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He always ends up green and sad</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And sitting on a lily pad.</p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-9009229031731866892023-11-20T08:02:00.000-08:002023-11-20T08:02:55.592-08:001135. Party Preparations - Posidippus (About 273 BC)<p><span style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px;"> </span><i style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px;">Translated from the Greek by Barton Raffe</i><span style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px;">l</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> (</span>nothing changes<span style="font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">)</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ll be four, each with his woman.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Eight’s too many for one keg of wine.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Go tell Aristus the keg I bought</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Is only half full, a gallon short, maybe two</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Or even more. Hurry!</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They’re coming at five.</p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-29403473744889105072023-11-16T07:12:00.000-08:002023-11-16T07:12:44.723-08:001134. Symphony in Yellow - Oscar Wilde<p><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">An omnibus across the bridge</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Crawls like a yellow butterfly,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> And, here and there, a passer-by</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Shows like a little restless midge</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Big barges full of yellow hay</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Are moored against the shadowy wharf,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> And, like a yellow silken scarf,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The thick fog hangs along the quay.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The yellow leaves begin to fade</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> And flutter from the Temple elms,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> And at my feet the pale green Thames</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lies like a rod of rippled jade.</p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-53473222118860014272023-11-16T06:49:00.000-08:002023-11-16T06:49:24.079-08:001133. Meeting At Night - Robert Browning<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"> The grey sea and the long black land,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">And the yellow half-moon large and low, </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">And the startled little waves that leap</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In fiery ringlets from their sleep,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">As I gain the cove with pushing prow,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">And quench its speeed in the slushy sand.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then a mile of warm sea-sented beach;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Three fields to cross till a farm appears;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">A tap at the pane, the quick sharp stratch,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">And blue spurt of a lighted match,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>A</span><span>nd a voice less loud, through its joys and fears,</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Than the two hearts beating each to each.!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-450833714974682452023-10-27T06:53:00.000-07:002023-10-27T06:53:09.634-07:001132. Fountains And Statues - John Tagliabue<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">FOUNTAINS AND STATUES AND AMAZED </p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> TOURISTS BETWEEN NOTRE DAME</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> AND THE ORANGERIE</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To have</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">had the heart of admiration of joy lifted</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>the way</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Apollinaire lifted a poem, the way our gaze lifts</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>the Eiffel Tower;</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the way Paris clearer in sunlight and springtime than</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>ever before lifts us;</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">from Pont Neuf you take off, in the Tuileries you see</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Marcel Marceau</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">with a single flower or Monet with a thousand canvases.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Pavlova, how</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">can you get on your toe that way ? What are you doing</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>spinning and spinning</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and spinning out in the universe and so</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>close to my heart ?</p><p> </p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-19277785704604482892023-10-27T06:28:00.000-07:002023-10-27T06:28:48.689-07:001131. On Himself - Heliodora (About 100 B.C.)<p><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Translated from the Greek by Burton Raffel</i></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I grew on Tyre.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I was born in Syria,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And I came out of Eucrates,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I, Meleager, who taught my muse</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To run on barbed feet.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m a Syrian, should anyone be surprised?</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But stranger, all of us live in one country: the world.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">All of us were born in the same Chaos.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And when I grow old</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I wrote this epitaph for myself,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Knowing that old age and death live side by side.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Say something to wish this wordsmith well,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And live to be a wordy old man like me.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>Heliodora (about 100 B.C.) - Spring</b></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Translated from the Greek by Burton Raffel</i></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Winter winds have blown out of the sky,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The purple spring flowers happily.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The dark earth drapes herself in green</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And plants burst into leaf, their newborn hair waving.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Fields drink the dawn dew and grow,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Laughing as roses open. Shepherds in the hills</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Shrill bright melodies on their pipes,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And goatherds count and re-count their white kids.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sailors are out on the broad sea,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Zephyr puffing out their sails.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Men wear crowns of ivy and cry “Evoe!”</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To honor Bacchus, father of wine.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Bees buzz into being, stir and work their hives,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Constructing artful many-celled combs.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And all the races of birds sing everywhere,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Clear and loud: kingfishers near the water,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Swallows around our houses, swans by the river’s edge,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Nightingales deep in the woods.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And if leaves and plants are happy, the the earth sprouts,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And shepherds pipe, and sheep play and dance in the meadows,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And bees make honey,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How can a poet be silent, seeing beautiful spring?</p><div><br /></div>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-70811103226543585942023-10-16T08:47:00.001-07:002023-10-16T08:50:33.918-07:001130. Poem - Frank O'Hara<p><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lana Turner has collapsed!</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I was trotting along and suddenly</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">it started raining and snowing</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and you said it was hailing </p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">but hailing hits you on the head</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">hard so it was really snowing and</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">raining and I was in such a hurry</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">to meet you but the traffic</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">was acting exactly like the sky</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and suddenly I see a headline</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">LANA TURNER HAS COLLAPSED!</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">there is no snow in Hollywood</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">there is no rain in California</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I have been to lots of parties</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and acted perfectly disgraceful</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">but I never actually collapsed</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">oh Lana Turner we love you get up</p><p><br /></p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-27194748699562073502023-09-16T11:12:00.001-07:002023-09-16T11:12:32.370-07:001129. Ripeness - Jane Hirshfied<p><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ripeness is</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">what falls away with ease.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not only the heavy apple,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the pear,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">but also the dried brown strands</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">of autumn iris from their core.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To let your body</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">love this world</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">that gave itself to your care</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">in all of its ripeness,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">with ease,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and will take itself from you</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">in equal ripeness and ease,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">is also harvest.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And however sharply</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">you are tested—</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">this sorrow that great love—</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">it too will leave on that clean knife.</p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-7652285179259659002023-09-09T07:32:00.000-07:002023-09-09T07:32:00.721-07:001128. Everything Is Waiting For You - David Whyte<p>After Derek Mahon</p><p><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Your great mistake is to act the drama</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">as if you were alone. As if life</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">were a progressive and cunning crime</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">with no witness to the tiny hidden</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">even you, at times, have felt the grand array;</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">out your solo voice. You must note</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the way the soap dish enables you, </p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">or the window latch grants you freedom.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The stairs are you mentor of things</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">to come, the doors have always been there</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">to frighten you and invite you,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and the tiny speaker in the phone</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">is your dream-ladder to divinity.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Put down the wight of your aloneness and ease into</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the conversation. The kettle is singing</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">have left their arrogant aloofness and</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">seen the good in you at last. All the birds</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and creatures of the world are unutterably</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">themselves. Everything is waiting for you.</p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-38606009674617738112023-08-31T11:14:00.000-07:002023-08-31T11:14:04.822-07:001127. The Night, The Porch - Mark Strand<p><br /></p><div><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To stare at nothing is to learn by heart</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What all of us will be swept into, and baring oneself</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To the wind is feeling the ungraspable somewhere close by.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Trees can sway or be still. Day or night can be what they wish.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What we desire, more than a season or weather, is the comfort</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Of being strangers, at least to ourselves. This is the crux</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Of the matter, which is why even now we seem to be waiting</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For something whose appearance would be its vanishing—</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The sound, say, of a few leaves falling, or just one leaf,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Or less. There is no end to what we can learn. The book out there</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tells us as much, and was never written with us in mind. </p></div>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-59018342401793901272023-08-26T19:30:00.001-07:002023-08-26T19:38:41.843-07:001126. My First Use of Google Bard<p><span style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px;">Question to google Bard (Answered in 5 seconds)</span></p>
<p style="background-color: #f0f3fb; color: #181818; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>What famous poets have written poems about what famous art?</i></span></p>
<p style="background-color: #f0f3fb; color: #181818; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">"W.H. Auden wrote the poem "Musée des Beaux Arts" about Pieter Bruegel the Elder's painting "The Fall of Icarus." The poem explores the indifference of the world to human suffering, as represented by the ploughman who continues to plough his field while Icarus falls to his death.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Anne Sexton wrote the poem "The Starry Night" about Vincent van Gogh's painting of the same name. The poem describes the painting's swirling clouds and stars, and the artist's own mental turmoil.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Sylvia Plath wrote the poem "Lady Lazarus" about the painting "Judith Slaying Holofernes" by Artemisia Gentileschi. The poem explores the themes of violence, revenge, and female empowerment.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">T.S. Eliot wrote the poem "The Waste Land" about a variety of famous artworks, including Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" and Michelangelo's "Pietà." The poem explores the themes of loss, despair, and spiritual emptiness.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Pablo Neruda wrote the poem "The Suitcase" about a painting by Frida Kahlo. The poem describes the painting's images of pain and suffering, and the artist's own resilience.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Wallace Stevens wrote the poem "The Old Guitarist" about Pablo Picasso's painting of the same name. The poem explores the themes of aging, isolation, and creativity.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Seamus Heaney wrote the poem "The Cuchulain Cycle" about the paintings of Jack B. Yeats. The poems explore the themes of Irish mythology and history.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci has been the subject of many poems, including "Sonnet 151" by William Shakespeare and "The Mona Lisa" by Edna St. Vincent Millay.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Guernica by Pablo Picasso has been the subject of poems by Rafael Alberti, Jorge Luis Borges, and Derek Walcott</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali has been the subject of poems by John Ashbery, Ted Berrigan, and Charles Simic.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">The Kiss by Gustav Klimt has been the subject of poems by Rainer Maria Rilke, Sylvia Plath, and Seamus Heaney.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 24px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">These are just a few examples of the many poems that have been written about famous art. Ekphrasis, the art of describing a visual work of art in words, is a rich and complex tradition that has been practiced by poets for centuries."</span></p><div><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-60380827277023148352023-07-20T06:59:00.001-07:002023-08-26T19:36:45.925-07:001125. The Battles of the Pen and the Scissors - Shem Tov Ardutiel (pen name Santob De Carrion)<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Excerpt From The Battles of the Pen and the Scissors (CE 1345) by Shem Tov Ardutiel (pen name Santob De Carrion)</span></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Writer, you hold a flame in your hand,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>or is it the blade of a sword or a spear-- </p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the tree of knowledge of good and evil,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>or a staff to make wondrous signs appear?</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Are there words enough in all of song</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>to praise the pen? Who else could bear</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the burden of bringing back the past</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and preserving it then as though with myrrh?</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It has no ear with which it might hear,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>or mouth with which to offer answers,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and yet the pen, in a single stroke,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">at once does both—observes and remembers.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At night he says “Tomorrow I’ll write,”</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">but there nothing at all to back up his words;</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the heaven’s frost caught in his face,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and the cackling of mocking ice is heard.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Don’t pride yourself on tomorrow’s prize,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">when you have no notion of what it hides.</p><div><br /></div>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-7846760792386869942023-07-09T09:55:00.000-07:002023-07-09T09:55:23.886-07:001124. Autobiografia Literaria - Frank O'Hara<p> </p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When I was a child</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I played by myself in a</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">corner of the schoolyard</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">all alone.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I hated dolls and I</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">hated games, animals were</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">not friendly and birds</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">flew away.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If anyone was looking</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">for me I hid behind a</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">tree and cried out “I am</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">an orphan.”</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And here I am, the</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">center of all beauty!</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">writing these poems!</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Imagine!</p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-83820710105063873732023-07-09T09:50:00.000-07:002024-01-13T09:14:43.633-08:001123. Earthing - Billy Collins<p> </p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">You have probably come across</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">those scales in planetariums</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">that tell you how much you</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">would weigh on other planets.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">You have noticed the fat ones</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">lingering on the Mars scale</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and the emaciated slowing up</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the line for Neptune.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As a creature of average weight.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I fail to see the attraction.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Imagine squatting in the wasteland</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Of Pluto, all five tons of you,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">or wandering around Mercury</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">wondering what to do next with your ounce.</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How much better to step onto</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the simple bathroom scale,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">a happy earthing feeling</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the familiar ropes of gravity,</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">157 pounds standing soaking wet</p><p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">a respectful distance from the sun.</p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18394346.post-13693624228666429892023-06-08T09:16:00.000-07:002023-06-08T09:16:10.983-07:001122. No Path - David Whyte<p> <i style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px;">There is No Path that Goes all the Way</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Han Shan</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 27px;"><i></i><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not that it stops us looking</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">for the full continuation.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The one line in the poem</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">we can start and follow</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">straight to the end. The fixed belief</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">we can hold, facing a stranger</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">that saves us the trouble</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">of a real conversation. </p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But one day you are not</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">just imagining an empty chair</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">where your loved one sat.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Your are not just telling a story</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">where the bridge is down</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and there’s nowhere to cross.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">You are not just trying to pray</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">to a God you always imagined</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">would keep you safe.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">No, you’ve come to a place</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">where nothing you’ve done</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">will impress and nothing you </p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">can promise will avert</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the silent confrontation,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the place where</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">your body already seems to know</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the way, having kept</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">to the last, its own secret</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">reconnaissance.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But still, there is no path</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">that goes all the way,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">one conversation leads</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">to another,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">one breath to the next</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">until</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">there’s no breath at all,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">just</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the inevitable</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">final release</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">of the burden.</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 28px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And then,</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">wouldn’t your life</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">have to start</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">all over again </p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">for you to know</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">even a little</p>
<p style="font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">of who you had been?</p>Bookgleanerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16495813695084821082noreply@blogger.com0