Ariel’s Song by William Shakespeare [from The Tempest]

Full fathom five thy father lies,
   Of his bones are coral made;
 Those are pearls that were his eyes:
   Nothing of him that doth fade,
 But doth suffer a sea-change
   Into something rich and strange:
 Sea nymphs hourly ring his knell.
          Ding-dong!
     Hark! Now I hear them,
          Ding-dong, bell!

NOTE: From The Tempest Act 1: Scene 2

Autumn Light [Haiku]

the sun is low,
but then it never gets high
this time of year.

Monkey Courage [Haiku]

ten seconds after
 a dead limb broke under it:
  poised to leap again.

Cold Sparrows by Yang Wanli [w/ Audio]

Hundreds of cold sparrows dive into the empty courtyard,
   cluster on plum branches and speak of sun after rain at dusk.
 They choose to gather en masse and kill me with noise.
 Suddenly startled, they disperse. Then, soundlessness.

NOTE: This translation from: Barnstone, Tony & Chou Ping. 2005. The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry. New York: Random House. p.422.

Vaulted Dome [Haiku]

rain trees
form a vaulted dome
over city bustle.

Rivers of the Dead [Free Verse]

So many cultures
make their dead
cross a river.

The Greeks' Styx.
The Hindus' Vaitarna.
The Norse Gjȍll.
The Gnostic's Hiṭpon.
The Japanese Sanzu-no-Kawa.
The Mesopotamians' Hubur.
Taoists cross Naihe Bridge --
over what (I'm not sure,
but) is probably a river.

No rest for the dead?
It seems kind of rude.

BOOKS: MONKEY, Vol. 4: Music ed. by Ted Goossen & Motoyuki Shibata

MONKEY New Writing from Japan: Volume 4: MUSICMONKEY New Writing from Japan: Volume 4: MUSIC by Ted Goossen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amazon.in Page

Release Date: November 14, 2023

This is the fourth volume in a series of translated Japanese short creative writing (mostly poems and short stories.) The series (and this edition, in particular) features some of the best-known Japanese authors (e.g. Haruki Murakami and Meiko Kawakami.) Beyond a few major pieces at the beginning, this edition has a theme of music that runs through it.

Among my favorite pieces were: the novel excerpt Yoshiwara Dreaming about a young girl who is sold into the redlight district and becomes a helper in a brothel; Transformer: Pianos which is a work of surrealist fiction; The Zombie is Haruki Murakami’s fresh take on the zombie story; I also enjoyed many of the inclusions in the section entitled Eight Modern Haiku Poets on Music.

It’s a varied collection of writings. Not only does it include all forms of creative writing — prose and poetic — but the broad selection of writers and translators ensure that there is a diversity of styles and genres. That said, there isn’t a great diversity in quality level. It’s all strong writing, though some works will appeal to any give reader more than others. There’s something for everyone.

I’d highly recommend this volume for readers of literature in translation.

View all my reviews

BOOKS: Bohemians: A Very Short Introduction by David Weir

Bohemians: A Very Short Introduction (VERY SHORT INTRODUCTIONS)Bohemians: A Very Short Introduction by David Weir
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amazon.in Page

This book examines the brief life of the Bohemian artistic lifestyle, exploring how it came about, what it looked like in its heyday, what led to its demise, and by what / whom it was replaced (e.g. the Beats.) It is an intriguing examination of the subject. I will say, there were points that I felt the book had become lost in the weeds, but at other points I found it fascinating. I concluded that my own calculus was to find it interesting when it discussed the lives and works of artists who are still deemed to have relevance and influence today (e.g. Baudelaire, Picasso, and Whitman,) and not so much when it was elaborating on artists and works that have fallen into obscurity among the general populace (e.g. Henry Murger’s Scenes of Bohemian Life.) So, that may be more a reflection on me than on the book.

The author touches upon the fictional influences that inspired Bohemianism, the places where the lifestyle thrived (e.g. Paris and New York,) the philosophy and – particularly – the political philosophy of the Bohemians (e.g. often Anarchists or – at least – anti-government.) One of the topics that most interested me is how the successor artistic communities differed from the Bohemians.

If you’re interested in who the Bohemians were and how they differ from other artistic communities (before and after,) this book is well worth the brief read required.

View all my reviews

Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge [w/ Audio]

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
     A stately pleasure-dome decree:
 Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
 Through caverns measureless to man
     Down to a sunless sea.
 So twice five miles of fertile ground
 With walls and tower were girdled round:
 And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills
 Where blossom'd many an incense-bearing tree;
 And here were forests ancient as the hills,
 Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But O, that deep romantic chasm which slanted
 Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
 A savage place! as holy and enchanted
 As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
 By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
 And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
 As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
 A mighty fountain momently was forced;
 Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst 
 Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
 Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
 And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
 It flung up momently the sacred river.
 Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
 Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
 Then reach'd the caverns measureless to man,
 And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
 And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from afar
 Ancestral voices prophesying war!

     The shadow of the dome of pleasure
     Floated midway on the waves;
     Where was heard the mingled measure
     From the fountain and the caves.
 It was a miracle of rare device,
 A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

     A damsel with a dulcimer
     In a vision once I saw:
     It was an Abyssinian maid,
     And on her dulcimer she play'd,
     Singing of Mount Abora.
     Could I revive within me,
     Her symphony and song,
     To such a deep delight 'twould win me,
 That with music loud and long,
 I would build that dome in air,
 That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
 And all who heard should see them there,
 And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
 His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
 Weave a circle round him thrice,
 And close your eyes with holy dread,
 For he on honey-dew hath fed,
 And drunk the milk of Paradise.

Percussive Parade [Haiku]

drums & cymbal crash:
 a parade of percussion
  outside my window.