Five Wise Lines from George Carlin [April 2025]

Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot,
and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

Isn’t making a smoking section in a restaurant
like making a peeing section in a swimming pool?

I don’t believe there’s any problem in this country,
no matter how tough it is,
that Americans,
when they roll up their sleeves,
can’t completely ignore.

Here’s all you have to know about men and women;
women are crazy,
men are stupid.
And the main reason that women are crazy
is that men are stupid.

I like it when a flower or a little tuft of grass grows through a crack in the concrete.
It’s so fuckin’ heroic.

“To the Muse” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

Whether on Ida's shady brow,
Or in the chambers of the East,
The chambers of the sun, that now
From antient melody have ceas'd;

Whether in Heav'n ye wander fair,
Or the green corners of the earth,
Or the blue regions of the air,
Where the melodious winds have birth;

Whether on chrystal rocks ye rove,
Beneath the bosom of the sea
Wand'ring in many a coral grove,
Fair Nine, forsaking Poetry!

How have you left the antient love
That bards of old enjoy'd in you!
The languid strings do scarely move!
The sound is forc'd, the notes are few!

Hillview [Haiku]

from the hill that overlooks the city, 
hustle-bustle isn't seen.

Night in a River City [Haiku]

river city:
after dark, boats slip moorings
to glide silently.

“Balls” by Amy Lowell [w/ Audio]

Throw the blue ball above the little twigs of the tree-tops,
And cast the yellow ball straight at the buzzing stars.

All our life is a flinging of colored balls
to impossible distances.
And in the end what have we?
A tired arm -- a tip-tilted nose.

Ah! Well! Give me the purple one.
Wouldn't it be a fine thing if I could make it stick
On top of the Methodist steeple?

Roadside [Haiku]

roadside tree
shakes with each passing truck,
but no blooms fall.

Wen Fu 3 [文赋三]: “The Writing Process” by Lu Ji [陆机] [w/ Audio]

After choosing one's scope of thought,
Turn the words and note their order.
Embrace the hot ones, feel their burn;
Knock on lines and hear their timbre.
Use the branches to shake the leaves,
And waves can be traced to their source.
Make the hidden come visible;
Make the difficult seem simple.
A tiger's transformation startles --
Birds take flight on sight of dragons.
Sometimes words nest into each other;
Sometimes, jaggedly, they won't mesh.
With a clear, contemplative mind
Hordes filter through to easy speech.
Heaven and Earth contained within:
All things flow from the brush with ease.
Starting timidly with dry mouth,
Ending with a wandering brush.
Meaning is borne by a stout trunk,
Language hangs like leaf and fruit.
Make words and intended meaning match
As moods show clearly on a face.
When happiness comes, laugh & smile,
And with sorrow let loose a sigh.
At times words flow spontaneously;
At times one bites one's brush, musing.

The Original in Simplified Chinese:

然后选义按部,考辞就班。
抱暑者咸叩, 怀响者毕弹。
或因枝以振叶,或沿波而讨源。
或本隐以之显,或求易而得难。
或虎变而兽扰,或龙见而鸟澜。
或妥帖而易施,或岨峿而不安。
罄澄心以凝思,眇众虑而为言。
笼天地于形内,挫万物于笔端。
始踯躅于燥吻,终流离失所于濡翰。
理扶质以立干,文垂条而结繁。
信情貌之不差,故每变而在颜。
思涉乐其必笑,方言哀而已叹。
或操觚以率尔,或含毫而邈然。

Autumn Blue [Haiku]

deep autumn blue;
a harvested field,
alive with crickets.

“Spring Thoughts” by Li Bai [w/ Audio]

Yan grass shimmers like silken jade.
Qin mulberry trees' green leaves droop.
Your homecoming is now at hand
As heartbreak has me thin and stooped.
Spring Winds and I are strangers --
Why, past my curtains, the inward swoop?

Chinese Title: 春思; Original poem in Simplified Chinese:

燕草如碧丝, 秦桑低绿枝;
当君怀归日, 是妾断肠时。
春风不相识, 何事入罗帏?

Note: this is poem #7 in “300 Tang Poems” [唐诗三百首]

Elephant’s Eye [Haiku]

crops hide the farmhouse,
but can't conceal distant mountains.