“When You Are Old” by W. B. Yeats [w/ Audio]

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When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
 And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
 And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
 Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
 And loved your beauty with love false or true,
 But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
 And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
 Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
 And paced upon the mountains overhead
 And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

PROMPT: Books

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Bloganuary writing prompt
What books do you want to read?
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I’d love to read all the good ones, but even with my voracious approach to reading I barely make a dent.

Here’s the top of the list of books I’m excited about right at the moment, by category:

Travel lit related to an impending trip to the Caucasus region: “A Man Was Going Down the Road” by Otar Chiladze; “Ali and Nino” by Kurban Said; “The Burning Tigris” by Peter Balakian; and “Kvachi” by Mikheil Javakhishvili.

Related to a Chinese literature (in translation) kick that I’m on: “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms” Luo Guanzhong; “Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio” by Pu Songling; “In the Thick Woods a Deer Is Seen at Times” and “A Pair of Swallows Fly” [The latter two are bilingual poetry translations of works from the Tang Dynasty and the Book of Poetry, respectively.]

Books and editions coming out this year: “Judo Unleashed” by Neil Ohlenkamp; a new verse translation of Kamo no Chomei’s “Hojoki” translated by Matthew Stavros; “Nuclear War” by Annie Jacobsen; and a new translation of Natsumi Soseki’s “Kokoro.”

Related to things I’m working on presently: “Thinking, Fast and Slow” Daniel Kahneman; “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell; “Gut Feelings” by Gerd Gigerenzer; and “The Meaning of Travel” by Emily Thomas.

Long overdue: “Metamorphoses” by Ovid; “The Decameron” by Giovanni Boccaccio, and I should probably finish Joyce’s “Ulysses”

Odds and Ends: “Rental Person Who Does Nothing” by Shoji Morimoto; “Is This Anything?” by Jerry Seinfeld; “Sick in the Head” by Judd Apatow.

Are you sorry you asked yet?

Spark in the Dark [Free Verse]

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Through the inky night,
 flies an orange spark.

And then there's darkness
 once more.

And then a spray of sparks
 arc through the dark.

And then there's darkness
 once more.

And then there is a flame,
 and darkness is held at bay...
  tentatively.

Vanishing Tracks [Tanka]

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incense tracks
 meander skyward --
 erratically;
 as they rise, they diffuse
 to become nothingness.

DAILY PHOTO: Hualien from the Mountains

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BOOKS: “DCeased” by Tom Taylor

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DCeasedDCeased by Tom Taylor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amazon.in Page

It’s the zombie apocalypse in a world brimming with superheroes. Sort of. As is mentioned a couple of times throughout the story, it’s not really zombies as we know them, and there are a few crucial distinctions. But, basically, zombie apocalypse. What matters is that it is a threat that grows to inexorable proportions because it infects efficiently and spreads rapidly, and no one is immune. The threat is increasingly everyone and everywhere. The source is a viral bit of “programming” called the Anti-Life Equation.

This is about as dark as superhero comics get. The heroes that we are used to saving the day experience only victories of a short-lived and pyrrhic nature, while experiencing defeat after defeat. There are no ex machina saviors, at least not that amount to more than a blip in the scheme of things.

I found this story, depressing as it may be, to be intensely suspenseful. Full Disclosure: I also liked the Avengers “Infinity War” movie much more than “Endgame.” It’s not that I necessarily like seeing villains win, but that a story feels more compelling when there is strong and successful opposition and when costs accrue. And credible opposition and true stakes are often missing from superhero comic book stories.

I’d recommend this book for superhero comic book readers.

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“When I Was One-and-Twenty” by A.E. Housman [w/ Audio]

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When I was one-and-twenty
 I heard a wise man say,
 "Give crowns and pounds and guineas
 but not your heart away;
 Give pearls away and rubies
 but keep your fancy free."
 But I was one-and-twenty,
 No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty
 I heard him say again,
 "The heart out of the bosom
 Was never given in vain;
 'Tis paid with sighs a plenty
 And sold for endless rue."
 And I am two-and-twenty,
 And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

Steam Treatment [Haiku]

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the tree that reaches
 over the hot spring-fed pond
 thrives on steam treatment.

DAILY PHOTO: Scenes from Taroko Gorge

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Tunnel of Nine Turns
On the Shakadang Trail with the morning sun
The freakishly turquoise waters of Taroko Gorge
Shakadang Bridge

BOOKS: “Saga of the Swamp Thing: Book One” by Alan Moore

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Saga of the Swamp Thing, Book OneSaga of the Swamp Thing, Book One by Alan Moore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amazon.in Page

This volume presents two separate and complete story arcs. The first features the Floronic Man (Jason Woodrue) as the main villain, and it deals heavily in the origins of Swamp Thing and the creature’s struggles to come to grips with who it is and why it experiences the world as it does. The second story makes a shift to a more supernatural threat and shows a Swamp Thing who is more comfortable in its… roots? twigs? foliage? — whatever Swamp Thing has in lieu of skin.

Alan Moore does his usual superb job of creating a clever and satisfying set of tales. Swamp Thing was groundbreaking in its cross-genre mélange of horror, supernatural, eco-fiction, and sci-fi. There is also a certain smartness about the comic. One is led to consider questions of consciousness and humanity’s role in nature through these stories. And solutions are rarely achieved by punching the villain into a stupor. This won’t be for everyone. In some ways, the comic elevates the wise old mentor to the role of hero.

I enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it for readers of comic books and graphic novels.

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