a shoot sprouts
in a shallow divot,
on the rocky cliff.
Grass & Rock [Haiku]
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Category Archives: poem
“I Sing the Body Electric” [7 of 9] by Walt Whitman [w/ Audio]
A man's body at auction,
(For before the war I often go to the slave-
mart and watch the sale,)
I help the auctioneer, the sloven does not
half know his business.
Gentlemen look on this wonder,
Whatever the bids of the bidders they
cannot be high enough for it,
For it the globe lay preparing quintillions of
years without one animal or plant,
For it the revolving cycles truly and steadily
roll'd.
In this head the all-baffling brain,
In it and below it the makings of heroes.
Examine these limbs, red, black, or white,
they are cunning in tendon and nerve,
They shall be stript that you may see them.
Exquisite senses, life-lit eyes, pluck, volition,
Flakes of breast-muscle, pliant backbone
and neck, flesh not flabby, good-sized
arms and legs,
And wonders within there yet.
Within there runs blood,
The same old blood! the same red-running
blood!
There swells and jets a heart, there all
passions, desires, reachings, aspirations,
(Do you think they are not there because
they are not express'd in parlors and
lecture-rooms?)
This is not only one man, this the father of
those who shall be fathers in their turns,
In him the start of populous states and rich
republics,
Of him countless immortal lives with
countless embodiments and enjoyments.
How do you know who shall come from the
offspring of his offspring through the
centuries?
(Who might you find you have come from
yourself, if you could trace back through
the centuries?)
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Shadow Play [Haiku]
Five Wise Lines [September 2024]
No country has ever benefited from a long war.
Sūnzi’s art of war (孙子兵法,) ch. 2
Humans are good intuitive grammarians but poor intuitive statisticians.
Daniel kahneman in Thinking, fast and slow
The highest form of leadership is to attack the enemy’s plans; the next highest is to attack the cohesion of their forces; the next is to attack their troops, and the worst is to besiege their cities.
Sūnzi’s Art of war (孙子兵法,) Ch.3
Laziness is built deep into our nature.
Daniel Kahneman in Thinking, Fast and Slow
War is the Way of deception.
Sūnzi’s Art of war (孙子兵法), Ch. 1
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Autumn Denial [Haiku]
grass dries & withers,
the trees yellow & thin...
but one vital shrub.
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“Sad” [Poetry Style #19 (悲慨)] by Sikong Tu [w/ Audio]
Strong winds ripple water;
Forest trees are laid low...
A bitter urge to die --
One can't come; one can't go.
Ten decades flow, stream-like;
Riches are cold, gray ash.
Life 's a death procession --
Unless you're adept and brash,
And can take up the sword
To hasten the anguish...
No rustling dry leaves, or
Leaky roof as you languish.
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 nineteenth of the twenty-four poems. This poem’s Chinese title is 悲慨, and it has been translated as: “Despondent,” and “Sorrowful.”
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Fish Time [Common Meter]
Fish mill about the koi pond --
No hooks or fishnets;
Just falling leaves to break up
Hours into minutes.
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Squirrel Alarm [Haiku]
“I Sing the Body Electric” [6 of 9] by Walt Whitman [w/ Audio]
The male is not less the soul nor more, he
too is in his place,
He too is all qualities, he is action and
power,
The flush of the known universe is in him,
Scorn becomes him well, and appetite and
defiance become him well,
The wildest largest passions, bliss that is
utmost, sorrow that is utmost become
him well, pride is for him,
The full-spread pride of man is calming and
excellent to the soul,
Knowledge becomes him, he likes it always,
he brings every thing to the test of
himself,
Whatever the survey, whatever the sea and
the sail he strikes soundings at last only
here,
(Where else does he strike soundings except
here?)
The man's body is sacred and the woman's
body is sacred,
No matter who it is, it is sacred -- is it the
meanest one in the laborers' gang?
Is it one of the dull-faced immigrants just
landed on the wharf?
Each belongs here or anywhere just as much
as the well-off, just as much as you,
Each has his or her place in the procession.
(All is a procession,
The universe is a procession with measured
and perfect motion.)
Do you know so much yourself that you call
the meanest ignorant?
Do you suppose you have a right to a good
sight, and he or she has no right to a
sight?
Do you think matter has cohered together
from its diffuse float, and the soil is on
the surface, and water runs and
vegetation sprouts,
For you only, and not for him and her?
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“Surgeons must be very careful” (156) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]
Surgeons must be very careful
When they take the knife!
Underneath their fine incisions
Stirs the Culprit -- Life!
Tiger Riding for Beginners 