DAILY PHOTO: From Prague Castle on an Overcast Day
Image
Reply
Forbidden [Free Verse]
One afternoon, in the
Forbidden City,
People roam about --
Sightseeing.
The very next morning,
A single line of tracks
Through freshly fallen snow
Cuts across the very
Same yard.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
PROMPT: Ambitious DIY
Trying to get squirrels out of the attic. They did me like Macaulay Culkin / Kevin McCallister in Home Alone. Ultimately, had to call experts (pest control, not hitmen,) and they made short work of it.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Snow Squirrel [Haiku]
chubby squirrel
scampers across crusty snow --
crunchlessly!
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Winter Woods [Haiku]
DAILY PHOTO: A Scene from Angkor Wat
Image
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
“Drinking Wine, no. 5” [饮酒·其五] by Tao Qian [陶潜] (a.k.a. Tao Yuanming [陶渊明])
I live amid a busy town,
But traffic sounds are never heard.
How can this possibly be true?
Deep in the mind, all is remote.
Picking 'mums by the eastern fence,
I peer at distant South Mountains.
Sunset flares in garish color.
Birds flock home in lines and clusters.
The scene conveys some great meaning,
But words to express it fail me.
NOTES: “Drinking Wine, no. 5” [饮酒·其五] is one of Tao Qian’s [陶潜] “Twenty Poems on Drinking Wine” [饮酒二十首.] It is the best-known piece from the collection. The original poem in Simplified Chinese script is:
结 庐 在 人 境,
而 无 车 马 喧.
问 君 何 能 尔?
心 远 地 自 偏.
采 菊 东 篱 下,
悠 然 见 南 山.
山 气 日 夕 佳,
飞 鸟 相 与 还.
此 中 有 真 意,
欲 辨 已 忘 言.
I’ve started reading a review copy of Arthur Sze’s Transient Worlds (from Copper Canyon Press, due out April 14, 2026.) The first chapter discusses this poem and various translations of it, encouraging readers to make their own translation. This is mine. For more information about the book, see: https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/books/transient-worlds-arthur-sze/
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
PROMPT: Ban
Daily writing prompt
If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why?
I would replace all adverbs with a loud “HONK!”
Why do I do anything, because I think it would be funny. [Granted, only for a short time.]
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Beetle [Lyric Poem]
A Beetle that was built like a tank
Crawled over a blazing riverbank
Now as any sane one would think
It should head straight for the drink
To cool off its little ole toes.
But as astute readers will know,
It hasn't really got any toes,
So, it can walk hot sands real slow.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
The Regal Eagle [Lyric Poem]
No bird ever seemed quite so regal
As a quietly perching eagle.
But it's not so much like a king
When it dismounts, to take wing --
Cause that bird has to work for its living.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 