horses graze upon
dandelions and green grass,
under snowy heights.
Grazing [Haiku]
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Category Archives: poem
Blue Sky Perspective [Lyric Poem]
What ancient tower sits
Under the patch of blue...
Exposed by tearing clouds
To give a boundless view.
Well, however ancient
And however stately,
I view it with less awe,
Or even quite sedately.
For it's a babe below
The ever-spreading sky;
Its edges - broad and tall -
Exaggerate -- They lie!
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“Sparse” [Poetry Style #15 (疏野)] by Sikong Tu [w/ Audio]
Ah, make nature your home;
Be true and be unchained.
Enrichment by control
Can never be sustained.
Build your hut in the pines:
Toss your hat and read verse.
Know the dawn from the dusk,
But not time -- cradle to hearse.
If your life suits you well
Why must you strive and strain?
If you're unbound as sky,
This style you have attained.
NOTE: The late Tang Dynasty poet, Sikong Tu (a.k.a. Ssŭ-k‘ung T‘u,) wrote an ars poetica entitled Twenty-Four Styles of Poetry. It presents twenty-four poems that are each in a different tone, reflecting varied concepts from Taoist philosophy and aesthetics. Above is a crude translation of the fifteenth of the twenty-four poems. This poem’s Chinese title is 疏野 and it has been translated as “Seclusion” [Giles,] “The Carefree and Wild Style” [Barnstone / Ping,] as well as, “Unrestricted,” “Seclusion,” and “Sparse Wilderness.”
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“I have never seen ‘Volcanoes’ –” (175) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]
I have never seen "Volcanoes" --
But, when Travellers tell
How those old -- phlegmatic mountains
Usually so still --
Bear within -- appalling Ordnance,
Fire, and smoke, and gun,
Taking Villages for breakfast,
And appalling Men --
If the stillness is Volcanic
In the human face
When upon a pain Titanic
Features keep their place --
If at length the smouldering anguish
Wil not overcome ---
And the palpitating Vineyard
In the dust, be thrown?
If some loving Antiquary,
On Resumption Morn,
Will not cry with joy "Pompeii"!
To the Hills return!
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Summer Color [Haiku]
“Art” by Herman Melville [w/ Audio]
In placid hours well-pleased we dream
Of many a brave unbodied scheme.
But form to lend, pulsed life create,
What unlike things must meet and mate:
A flame to melt -- a wind to freeze;
Sad patience -- joyous energies;
Humility -- yet pride and scorn;
Instinct and study; love and hate;
Audacity -- reverence. These must mate,
And fuse with Jacob's mystic heart,
To wrestle with the angel -- Art.
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Everywhen, All In One Place [Haiku]
fallen leaves skitter
as grass sprouts in twined roots:
all seasons at once.
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Askew [Haiku]
askew tombstones
under a yawning tree:
a crow on its branch.
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Ordered Chaos [Haiku]
“Jade Gate Pass” by Wang Wei [w/ Audio]
Dawn rain has washed the city of its dust;
The refreshed hotel willows tremble in a gust.
My friendly advice, you dry up another glass,
You have no acquaintance beyond The Jade Gate Pass.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 