Spring flows:
frigid and silt gray --
rush down the mountain.
Cold Stream [Haiku]
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Category Archives: poem
Rough Edges [Haiku]
BOOKS: “The Black Riders and Other Lines” by Stephen Crane
The Black Riders and Other Lines by Stephen CraneMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Project Gutenberg Site
This collection consists of sixty-eight free verse poems, most of which are short (though a small number take up more than a page.) Crane’s poetry is philosophical and often surreal. It’s poetry that’s as likely to spur rumination as it is to evoke intense emotional experience. Some may find Crane’s poetry irreverent because it takes on formal religion and dogmatic groupthink, more generally, but – for others of us – therein lies its appeal.
This collection includes “In the Desert” as well as a number of Crane’s other well-known poems.
I’d highly recommend this collection for poetry readers, particularly those who enjoy poetry of a philosophical bent.
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“Behold, the grave of a wicked man” by Stephen Crane [w/ Audio]
Behold, the grave of a wicked man,
And near it, a stern spirit.
There came a drooping maid with violets,
But the spirit grasped her arm.
"No flowers for him," he said.
The maid wept:
"Ah, I loved him."
But the spirit, grim and frowning:
"No flowers for him."
Now, this is it --
If the spirit was just,
Why did the maid weep?
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Yew [Lyric Poem]
Oh, the Yew tree --
Such a beauty!...
But on that Yew,
You'd best not chew:
It'll kill you painfully.
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Last Hurrah [Haiku]
with foliage thinned,
the grassy undergrowth gets
one last time to shine.
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“Transcendent” [Poetry Style #21 (超诣)] by Sikong Tu [w/ Audio]
With no god, but with spirit;
With no mass of tiny things;
Up on high, with the white clouds --
Borne aloft on breezy wings.
From afar all seems in place.
When you arrive it's not there.
Just like acting with the Way
Leaves customs beyond repair.
Chaotic mountain woodlands,
Sweet green moss in the sunshine.
Keep reciting your mantra,
Till it's lost among the pines.
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 (二十四诗品.) 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 twenty-first of the twenty-four poems. This poem’s Chinese title is 超诣 and it’s been translated as “The Transcendental” and “Super”
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Sneaky Trees [Senryū]
it seems trees sneak --
in ones and twos -- up the hill,
as the woods watch.
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“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” (340) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading -- treading -- till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through --
And when they all were seated,
A Service, like a Drum --
Kept beating -- beating -- till I thought
My mind was going numb --
And then I heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead, again,
Then Space -- began to toll,
As all the Heavens were a Bell,
And Being, but an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange Race,
Wrecked, solitary, here --
And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
And I dropped down and down --
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowing -- then --
Tiger Riding for Beginners 