BOOK: “Old Master Q Chinese Idioms LOL 5” by Wong Chak

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Old Master Q Chinese Idioms LOL 5Old Master Q Chinese Idioms LOL 5 by Wong Chak
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Instagram – Ng Hing Kee

This collection of chengyu (four-character Chinese idioms) are presented by means of humorous comic strips. Each idiom takes up one page, which includes: the chengyu in both Traditional Chinese characters and pinyin (Romanized phoneticization,) very brief literal and colloquial definitions as well as a statement of the general circumstances under which the idiom might be used, and a four to six panel comic strip that shows the reader a humorous scenario for which the idiom is applicable.

The book is divided into five parts, and at the end of each part there are a few pages of exercises to test the reader’s understanding of that section’s material. (Answer keys are provided — upside-down at the end of each quiz.)

As someone learning Chinese, I found this book to be useful. However, it doesn’t require any Chinese literacy to learn. If you’re interested in compact bits of wisdom or quotes, you may find this book worthwhile.

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“Monody” by Herman Melville [w/ Audio]

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To have known him, to have loved him
   After loneness long;
 And then to be estranged in life,
   And neither in the wrong;
 And now for death to set his seal—
 Ease me, a little ease, my song!
 By wintry hills his hermit-mound
 The sheeted snow-drifts drape,
 And houseless there the snow-bird flits
 Beneath the fir-trees’ crape:
 Glazed now with ice the cloistral vine
 That hid the shyest grape.

PROMPT: Typical

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Daily writing prompt
Was today typical?
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At some level of granularity, you could slice it that way.

Petal Drop [Senryū]

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dogeared petal 
 can take no more --
  flutters in a gust.

Land’s End [Free Verse]

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Public beach:
   10am on a Tuesday.

It's peaceful --
   Peaceful in a depressing
      Sort of way.

It's desolate.
   There are gulls and crabs,
      But not a human in sight.

It's like the scene in which
    A solitary survivor --
       Having endured 
       Disease,
       Starvation,
       Outlaws, 
          &
        Zombies 
        While crossing the 
        Continent on foot --
    Realizes he has reached 
            The end of the line, &
        The rumored sanctuary 
            Does not exist...

But at least the view is nice,
    And -- for the moment --
    It's Zombie free.

DAILY PHOTO: International Cinema, Seoul

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“The Place of the Solitaires” by Wallace Stevens [w/ Audio]

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Let the place of the solitaires
 Be a place of perpetual undulation.

 Whether it be in mid-sea
 On the dark, green water-wheel,
 Or on the beaches,
 There must be no cessation
 Of motion, or of the noise of motion,
 The renewal of noise
 And manifold continuation;

 And, most, of the motion of thought
 And its restless iteration,

 In the place of the solitaires,
 Which is to be a place of perpetual undulation.

PROMPT: Describe Yourself

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Daily writing prompt
How would you describe yourself to someone?
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Of middling tallishness, perpetually perplexed, and independently impoverished.

DAILY PHOTO: Scenes from the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea

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“Drinking Alone in the Rainy Season” by Tao Yuanming [陶渊明] (a.k.a. Táo Qián, or 陶潜]

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Whatever lives must meet its end --
   That is the way it has always been.

If Taoist immortals were once alive,
   Where are they today?

The old man who gave me wine
   Claimed it was the wine of the immortals.

One small cup and a thousand worries vanish;
   Two, and you'll even forget about heaven.

But is heaven really so far away?
   It is best to trust in the Tao.

A crane in the clouds has magic wings
   To cross the earth in a moment.

It's been forty years of struggle 
   Since I first became reclusive.

Now that my body is nearly dead,
   My heart is pure. What more is there to say?

NOTE: This is the translation of Sam Hamill found in The Poetry of Zen (2004); Shambhala Publications: Boston, MA, p.24.