something moves
through the tall grass --
mystery rump & ears.
Something Moves [Haiku]
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Category Archives: poem
“The Snow Man” by Wallace Stevens [w/ Audio]
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
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Clouds Out [Haiku]
rhododendrons aren't blooming,
but clouds fled & mountains are out!
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Lament 3 [感遇三] by Zhang Jiuling [张九龄] [w/ Audio]
Alone, the hermit returns home to sleep.
He's cleansed of cares by way of solitude.
He gives thanks and praise to the geese on high
For lifting feelings to grand altitude.
Day or night, his mind holds no intentions,
Who can sense his energy, so subdued?
His flight and submergence self-limited,
Where can he find calm, and still be renewed?
This is the third poem in 300 Tang Poems [唐诗三百首] as well as the third of a quartet of poems entitled Gǎn Yù [感遇] that open the collection. The original in Simplified Chinese is:
幽人归独卧， 滞虑洗孤清。
持此谢高鸟， 因之传远情。
日夕怀空意， 人谁感至精？
飞沉理自隔， 何所慰吾诚？
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Pinecone [Haiku]
Tree Flight [Free Verse]
On a hike,
I come upon a tree
Raised up on its roots,
As if in mid-stride --
A long, cartoonish stride
That stretches across the trail.
But the tree doesn't stir --
No matter how quietly I wait;
No matter how long I wait.
Oh, how I wish to catch the tree
As it flees.
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“From a Railway Carriage” by Robert Louis Stevenson [w/ Audio]
Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle,
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.
Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,
All by himself and gathering brambles;
Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;
And there is the green for stringing the daisies!
Here is a cart run away in the road
Lumping along with man and load;
And here is a mill and there is a river:
Each a glimpse and gone for ever!
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Dusky Valley [Haiku]
River Vision [Free Verse]
in a flat, wide river:
something juts up
from the water --
far in the distance
for an instant,
i startle:
seeing it as an
extended arm...
like that Stevie Smith
poem, but i discover
it's neither waving,
nor drowning, but
merely protruding...
a dead limb
stuck in the river,
drag & pull balanced,
waiting to be
carried away.
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Lanterns [Kyōka]
rows of lanterns —
a jack-o-lantern patch —
lights the temple
on a dark, rainy night;
rain splats on a tin roof.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 