autumn breezes
send dry leaves tumbling, but for
one heavy rebel.
Heavy Rebel [Haiku]
Reply
Category Archives: Poetry
“Sonnets from the Portuguese 43” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning [w/ Audio]
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life, and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
White-Out [Free Verse]
snow falls
all night long,
silently piling.
i awaken
to a place
unrecognizable
as the one
in which i took to slumber:
the world's detail erased...
temporarily.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Marching Macaques [Haiku]
macaques on the march:
lockstep / shoulder-to-shoulder;
a crash in the trees.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
“Bright Star” by John Keats [w/ Audio]
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art --
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors --
No -- yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever -- or else swoon to death.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Dramatic Entrance [Haiku]
an egret flares
to a dramatic landing
in a sunny grass patch.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
BOOKS: “The Banished Immortal” by Ha Jin
The Banished Immortal: A Life of Li Bai by Ha JinMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Amazon.in Page
Li Bai is considered to be one of China’s best poets of all time, writing during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD,) a time swole with poetic greats. However, it’s not just a prolific collection of extant masterpieces that make Li Bai worthy of a biography intended for a general audience. Li Bai was also a compelling character. He was, at once, a drunk and a genius; a swordsman of some skill and a card-carrying Daoist. It’s not just that he could edit drafts into brilliant poems, but he was said to be gifted at spontaneously spouting clever verse. He was constantly struggling to gain a post in government, but failed time and again. Even when his poetic renown became so great that he was given a post in the Imperial court, he was disappointed to find that it was largely ceremonial and that he would have no great impact on anything. He had a stunning fall from grace when he aligned with the wrong side during a civil war and was lucky to have been exiled rather than executed.
Ha Jin, a prominent present-day Chinese author best known for the novel Waiting, does an excellent job of exploring Li Bai’s life. What I particularly enjoyed is that Ha Jin (a poet himself) discusses how events in Li’s life spurred some of his great poems (which are often included in whole or in part.) Ha Jin is also careful to make clear when biographical accounts diverge, and there are many unknown or disputed details of Li’s life. In fact, there is a bit of a mythology around Li Bai, as one might guess from the title – which refers to a nickname bestowed upon the poet based on the belief that he was a Daoist immortal.
I’d highly recommend this book for readers of biography, those interested in Chinese history, or those who are intrigued by rebellious poetic souls.
View all my reviews
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Muscular [Haiku]
a muscular tree
poses with limbs outstretched;
shrubs are unimpressed.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Braided Roots [Haiku]
twisted root piles
stretch across the walkway,
reaching like amoeba.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Blue Water [Haiku]
deep in winter,
the blue water makes it
Caribbean summer.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 