the pasture sprawls:
once dull & docile cows
now have feral eyes.
Feral [Haiku]
4
BOOK: “The Ruins” by Ye Hui [Trans. by Dong Li]
The Ruins: Poems by Hui YeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site — Deep Vellum
This is a Chinese-English bilingual edition of Ye Hui’s first poetry collection. The poems use stark imagery with occasional instances of philosophizing and surreal statements to create a vivid and provocative set of poems.
As I’m learning Chinese, it was nice to have the original poems in Simplified Chinese script next to the English translations. While I’m not up to a reading level sufficient to taking on Modern Poetry (any poetry for that matter,) it was useful to peruse the Chinese text. I did appreciate how much vibrance the author wrings out of a relatively simple vocabulary.
I’d highly recommend this collection for poetry readers.
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DAILY PHOTO: Sri Jagannath Temple of Agartala
BOOK: “The Wanderer’s Song” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe [trans. by John Kent]
The Wanderer’s Song: Essential Poems by Johann Wolfgang von GoetheMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher Site — Pushkin Press Classics
This is a new translation of select poems of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It’s a clever and varied set of poems by one of German literature’s all-time greats, a polymath of the 18th and early 19th centuries.
It can be a challenge for a general poetry reader to relate to this work. Over two hundred years since most of these poems were composed, the collection reflects a worldview quite different from that which one finds today. That said, the translations are readable and pleasant and don’t feel strained or clunky, and the collection has instances of sublimity. Having no background in German Literature, I can’t say how true the translations are to source material, but they stood solidly as poems in their own right. The book does offer a substantial introduction by the translator for individuals who are particularly interested in the German literature, translation decisions, or the life of Goethe.
I would recommend this for poetry readers, even though casual readers may find it a bit archaic. If you like the Romantic poets, and haven’t given Goethe a try, it’s well worth the time investment.
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PROMPT: Kid at Heart
Embrace play, go hog wild with imagination, and have a short memory for adversity.
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Passing [Haiku]
Chinatown [Senryū]
through the paifang*,
you leave your city,
but you're not in China.
*A paifang (牌坊) is the gate over a street or road that denotes the bounds of a Chinatown.
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Something Moves [Haiku]
DAILY PHOTO: Mask Garden of Eco Park, Kolkata
PROMPT: Magic Genie
For any wish number one, wish number two always has to be that one suffer no adverse consequences of the law of unintended consequences (i.e. like Midas who turns his food and even his daughter into solid gold.) Wish number three should be that the receipt of wish number one does not rob one of any experience that makes one a better version of oneself in the long-run (e.g. like the lottery winner who had been chugging along through life just fine and then ends up broke and suicidal because of both the additional pressures and the lack of need to be frugal and satisfied with simple things.)
Personally, I don’t know that it’s worth it. The bill always comes due.
But, if forced:
1.) To be contented with what is.
2.) Healthfulness all around.
3.) To die a good death (in due time.)
Tiger Riding for Beginners 