in rainy season,
grass grows from every crack,
closing on idols.
Green [Haiku]
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Cheetah [Lyric Poem]
A Cheetah can beat a Porsche to a hundred.
(Imagine the tumble if a clumsy one blundered.)
In fact, Cheetah's are so very, very fast
that your future is way, way back in its past.
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DAILY PHOTO: Colorful Little India of Singapore
FIVE WISE LINES [December 2024]
Today as in ancient times
Mei Yaochen in Poets’ Jade Splinters
it’s hard to write a simple poem.
To be undefeated lies with oneself;
Sunzi in The ART of War (孙子兵法)
to be victorious lies with the enemy.
A buddha is an idle person.
Bodhidharma; Bloodstream Sermon
He doesn’t run around after fortune and fame.
What good are such things in the end?
Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.
Epicurus
Take more time, cover less ground.
Thomas Merton
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“A One-String Harp” by Lu Ji [w/ Audio]
When an author composes too short a poem,
it trails off with a lonely feeling
like looking down at solitude with no friends
or peering into the vast sky, disconnected.
One string on a harp is crisp and sweet
but sings without resonance and harmony.
Translation by Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping in: The Art of Writing (1996) Boston: Shambhala Publications.
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Prickly [Senryū]
a swallowtail
lands on a thorny thistle,
resting in comfort.
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BOOKS: “How to Fight Tough” by Jack Dempsey
How to Fight Tough by Jack DempseyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Read online at Archive.org
This book was put out by the Coast Guard during World War II as a commando fighting manual. The lead on the project was heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey, aided by a small team of others — all with varied bona fides in Combatives.
This is a fun book to read. It’s loaded with 1940’s slang, over-the-top reminders to fight tough and mean, and jokes that — while dated — still amuse with their quirky language. Seriously, the voice in my head was playing in Trans-Atlantic dialect (1940’s radio announcer voice) or as James Cagney playing a gangster the whole time I was reading this book.
That said, while the text was campy, the actual techniques are solid. The book consists of eighteen lessons that are built on well-established grappling and submission techniques such as hadaka jime (rear naked choke.) Also, while there is often only one (or — at most — a few) photos per technique, they seemed to put some effort into doing them conscientiously. (And they are almost full-page shots, so one can actually see a bit of detail.) The techniques include: unarmed v. various unarmed attacks, unarmed v. knife, unarmed v. gun (holstered, and front and rear approaches,) and unarmed v. bayonet.
I’d highly recommend reading this book. It’s a quick and amusing read with some useful techniques inside.
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Donkey [Lyric Poem]
The Donkey 's known to be a stubborn beast,
But when one won't move - maybe wheels weren't greased.
I've seen angry humans push, pull, and tug,
But never give a peptalk or a hug.
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DAILY PHOTO: Burana Minaret, Kyrgyzstan
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“On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” by John Keats [w/ Audio]
My spirit is too weak -- mortality
Weighs heavily on me like unwilling sleep,
And each imagined pinnacle and steep
Of godlike hardship tells me I must die
Like a sick eagle looking at the sky.
Yet 'tis a gentle luxury to weep
That I have not the cloudy winds to keep
Fresh for the opening of the morning's eye.
Such dim-conceived glories of the brain
Bring round the heart an undescribable feud;
So do these wonders a most dizzy pain,
That mingles Grecian grandeur with the rude
Wasting of old time--with a billowy main --
A sun--a shadow of a magnitude.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 