Category Archives: poem

“Placid” [Poetry Style #2] by Sikong Tu [w/ Audio]

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It thrives in silence and with calm --
   ephemeral and gossamer.
 It's ever-flowing harmony,
   gliding with a solitary crane,
   wisping like the gentle breezes
      that rustle and billow one's robe,
   trilling softly like a bamboo flute.
 How does one become one with it?
   A chance meeting, lucked into, but
      don't lunge forward, or it'll vanish.
 When you think it's attainable,
   it twists in your hand and is gone.

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 translation of the second of the twenty-four poems.

Embarrassment of Riches [Haiku]

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early summer:
 birds trudge through green paddies
  that they usually prowl.

One River [Free Verse]

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From the water's edge,
 I see the spastic, choppy
   topography of a river
   that looked glassy 
   from the bridge that
   spans it.

Is this one river?

Am I one traveler?

“Meeting at Night” by Robert Browning [w/ Audio]

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I
The grey sea and the long black land;
 And the yellow half-moon large and low;
 And the startled little waves that leap
 In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
 As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
 And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.

II
Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
 Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
 A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
 And blue spurt of a lighted match,
 And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears,
 Than the two hearts beating each to each!

Vanishing [Haiku]

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a blossom falls
 into the water:
  i look. it’s gone.

Crows in a Row [Haiku]

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curb crows
 stand in a row.
  what’s the sky say?

“Song of More Sugar” by Liu Guo [w/ Audio]

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Reeds cover the tiny island.
   Shallow streams cut through the cold sand.

I see the Southern Tower for 
   The first time in two decades.
 
How many days since I moored 
   Under this willow tree?
   Mid-Autumn Festival is almost here.

On the rocks of Yellow Crane,
 Do my friends still reside?

This old place has many new sorrows.

If I bought wine and we cast off together,
 Could we be young again?

Wee Hours War [Lyric Poem]

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The dogs were in a wee hours war:
 Growling and snapping and howling,
 Breaching night's plutonian shore, 
 And sweet dreams those barks were fouling.

What monstrous dreamland incursions
 That yapping must have brought about.
 Bucolic scenes turned perversions
 Of bared teeth and menacing snout.

“Remember” by Christina Rossetti [w/ Audio]

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Remember me when I am gone away,
   Gone far away into the silent land;
   When you can no more hold me by the hand,
 Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
 Remember me when no more day by day
   You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
   Only remember me; you understand
 It will be late to counsel then or pray.
 Yet if you should forget me for a while
   And afterwards remember, do no grieve:
   For if the darkness and corruption leave
   A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
 Better by far you should forget and smile
  Than that you should remember and be sad.

Snake Hijinx [Kyōka]

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i see snakes jutting
 from the water; usually 
  i’d discover
 it’s not snakes but sticks,
 but today isn’t the usual.