Friday, November 01, 2024

1165. On A Painting by Wang The Clerk of Yen Ling - Su Tung P’O (1036-1101)


The slender bamboo is like a hermit.

The simple flower is like a maiden.

The sparrow tilts on the branch.

A gust of rain sprinkles the flowers.

He spreads his wings to fly

and shakes all the leaves.

The bees gathering honey

Are trapped in the nectar.

What a wonderful talent

Can create an entire Spring

With a brush and a sheet of paper.

If he would try poetry

I know he would be a master of words

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

1164, My Weariness of Epic Proportions - Charles Simic


I like it when

Achilles

Gets killed

And even his buddy Patroclus-

And that hothead Hector-

And the whole Greek and Trojan

Jeunesse dorée

Are more or less

Expertly slaughtered

So there’s finally

Peace and quiet

(The gods having momentarily)

Shut up)

One can hear

A bird sing

And a daughter ask her mother

Whether she can go to the well

And of course she can

By that lovely little path

That winds through

The olive orchard

Sunday, October 13, 2024

1163. A Plain Ordinary Steel Needle - Kay Ryan


     -Ripley’s Believe It Or Not?-


Who hasn’t seen

a plain ordinary

steel needle float serene

on water as if lying on a pillow?

The water curdles up like Jell-O.

Its a treat to see water

so rubbery a needle

so peaceful, the point encased

in the tenderest dimple

It seems so simple

when things or people

have modified each others qualities

somewhat:

we almost forget the oddity

of that.

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

1162. From Blossoms - Li-Young Lee

 A first! I enjoyed every poem in this book.

“Dancing With Joy” 99 Poems selected by Roger Housden


From laden boughs, from hands,

this brown paper bag of peaches

we bought from the boy

at the bend in the road where we turned toward

signs painted Peaches


From laden boughs, from hands,

from sweet fellowship in the bins,

comes nectar at the roadside, succulent

peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,

comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.


O, to take what we love inside,

to carry within us an orchard, to eat

not only the sugar, but the days, to hold

the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into

the round jubilance of peach.


There are days we live

as if death were nowhere

in the background; from joy

to joy to joy, from wing to wing,

from blossom to blossom to

impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.

Sunday, September 22, 2024

1161. Evening Ebb - Robinson Jeffers

The ocean has not been so quiet for a long while; five night-herons

Fly shoreline voiceless in the hush of the air

Over the calm of an ebb that almost mirrors their wings.

The sun has gone down, and the water has gone down

From the weed-clad rock, but the distant cloud-wall rises. The ebb     whispers.

Great cloud-shadows float in the opal water.

Through rifts in the screen of the world pale gold gleams, and the evening

Star suddenly glides like a flying torch.

As if we had not been meant to see her; Rehearsing behind

The screen of the world for another audience. 




Wednesday, August 21, 2024

1160. Snowstorm - Hayden Carruth

 

Everywhere men speak in whispers.

Tumult, many new ghosts. Storm

hurls itself across the valley

and careens from the ridges, swirls

of snow lapsing, leaping, colliding.

Outside on the highway a car

has rolled over the guard rail,

two pickups have stopped, men

stand hunched with their hands

in their pockets. We are looking

from our kitchen windows, we

have called the country sheriff

and the wrecker, we have asked

the men to come in for coffee.

But they have said no, somewhat

sullenly. Earlier we had been speaking

of war in the Persian Gulf, of

all the wars and how armies are

everywhere now, hardly one

peaceful corner remaining

in the world. In strange cities

and in wastelands, on mountains

and on islands, young men and women

in clumsy uniforms and in unease

stand hunched with their hands

in their pockets, or drink

as much beer as they can, or screw

themselves silly––but mostly

they stand hunched with their hands

in their pockets, scornful of the native

people. Now through the snow

the men on the highway are vague

distant figures in a veiled world,

the car’s lights are dim and unclear.

In our eaves and around our dormers

the wind cries and moans with increased

force, and the night comes on.

Tuesday, July 16, 2024

1159. Yes - Muriel Rukeyser


It's like a tap-dance
Or a new pink dress,
A shit-naive feeling
Saying yes.

Some say Good morning
Some say God bless
Some say Possibly
Some say yes.

Some say Never
Some say Unless
It's stupid and lovely
To rush into Yes.

What can it mean?
It's just like life,
One thing to you
One thing to your wife.

Some go local
Some go express
Some can't wait
To answer yes.

Some complain
Of strain and stress
The answer may be
No for Yes.

Some like failure
Some like success
Some like Yes Yes
Yes Yes Yes.

Open your eyes
Dream but don't guess.
Your biggest surprise
Come after Yes.


Thursday, July 11, 2024

1158. With Kit, Age 7, At The Beach - William Stafford


We would climb the highest dune,

from there to gaze and come down:

the ocean was performing;

we contributed our climb.


Waves leapfrogged and came

straight out of the storm.

What should our gaze mean?

Kit waited for me to decide.


Standing on such a hill,

what would you tell your child?

That was an absolute vista.

Those waves raced far, and cold.


“How far could you swim Daddy

in such a storm?”

“As far as was needed,” I said,

and as I talked I swam. 

Wednesday, July 03, 2024

1157. A Hardware Store As Proof of the Existence of God - Nancy Willard


I praise the brightness of hammers pointing east

like the steel woodpeckers of the future, 

and dozens of hinges opening brass wings,

and six new rakes shyly fanning their toes,

and bins of hooks glittering into bees,


and a rack of wrenches like the long bones of horses,

and mailboxes sowing rows of silver chapels,

and a company of plungers waiting for God

to claim their thin legs in their big shoes

and put them on and walk away laughing.


In a world not perfect but not bad either

let there be glue, glaze, gum, and grabs,

caulk also, and hooks, shackles, cables, and slips, 

and signs so spare a child many read them,

Men, Women, In, Out, No Parking, Beware The Dog.


In the right hands, they can work wonders

Saturday, June 29, 2024

1156. The Birds Have Vanished - Li Po

 Translated from the Chinese by Sam Hamill

The birds have vanished

and now the last cloud drains away


We sit together, the mountain and me

until only the mountain remains.

Friday, June 21, 2024

1155. A Sleepless Night - Philip Levine


April, and the last of the plum blossoms

scatters on the black grass

before dawn. The sycamore, the lime,

the struck pine inhale

and first pale hints of sky. The iron day,

I think, yet it will come

dazzling, the light

rise from the belly of leaves and pour

burning from the cups

of poppies. The mockingbird squawks

from his perch, fidgets,

and settles back. The snail, awake

for good trembles from his shell

and sets sail for China. My hand dances

in the memory of a million vanished stars.


A man has every place to lay his head

Sunday, June 09, 2024

1154. The Way To The Temple - Wang Wei (701-761)


Translated by Sam Hamill


Searching for Gathered Fragrance Temple:

miles of mountains rise into clouds,

ancient trees darken the narrow trail.

Where is that mountain temple bell?


Snow melt crashes down on boulders,

the sun grows cold in the pines before

it drowns in the lake. Keep your karma

in good working order: many dragons lie in wait.