“Picking Mulberries” by Ouyang Xiu [w/ Audio]

Adrift on West Lake in a wine-laden, colorful skiff:
As flutes play fast and lutes, deftly
And a jade cup circuits swiftly,
The boat's calm rocking lulls the drunk into sleep.

Thin clouds seem to float right under the rudderless boat.
The water's blue matches the sky's,
As lake to sky and back move eyes,
"Do the clouds above match those that in the water float?"

Dancing Trees [Haiku]

trees judder
with spring breezes;
shadows pulse below.

“You know where you despise” by Alexander Pope [w/ Audio]

You know where you despise
(Tother day) my little Eyes,
Little Legs, and little Thighs,
And some things, of little Size,
You know where.

You, tis true, have fine black eyes,
Taper legs, and tempting Thighs,
Yet what more than all we prize
Is a Thing of little Size,
You know where.

“Dust of Snow” by Robert Frost [w/ Audio]

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart
A change in mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

Wine Dance [Senryū]

the poet's wild dance
spills not a drop of wine,
but for down the throat.

Mountain Miniature [Haiku]

a jutting rock chunk
imitates the mountains
across the valley.

“Love’s Philosophy” by Percy Bysshe Shelley [w/ Audio]

The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine? --

See the mountains kiss high heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?

Backdrop [Haiku]

a snowy mountain.
a church, broad-shouldered & bright,
looks cold & bantam.

“‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers” (254) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]

"Hope" is the thing with feathers --
That perches in the soul --
And sings the tune without the words --
And never stops -- at all --

And sweetest -- in the Gale -- is heard --
And sore must be the storm --
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm --

I've heard it in the chillest land --
And on the strangest Sea --
Yet -- never -- in Extremity,
It asked a crumb -- of me.