They were called to heaven, as if it did exist, but they could not accept a perfect state of bliss. They're wrapped in the struggle - attached to their own strife, seeking out some jarring rush in a leaden life.
Hectic [Verse]
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Tag Archives: poetry
Three Little Lost Thoughts [Free Verse]
When one loses one's keys, they're always the last place you had them, but when you find yourself - more often than not - it's someplace you've never been before. There's love that isn't love at first sight, but there's also beauty that's not beautiful at first sight. Humans are the most absurd creatures, and our competition includes animals that lick their own butts.
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Pampas Grass [Haiku]
pampas grass ripples in a slight wind, lulling me to sleep
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Mossy Monument [Haiku]
moss grows on granite;
nature swallowing gravestones
and erasing names
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Stretch [Haiku]
stretching overhead, something opens deep inside, and i feel alive
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Vulnerable Moment [Haiku]
warmed in morning sun - the butterfly slowly unfolds, briefly helpless
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BOOK REVIEW: A Personal Anthology by Jorge Luis Borges
A Personal Anthology by Jorge Luis BorgesMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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This is a collection of poetry, short fiction, essays, and other short writings (that fit into two or more of the previously mentioned categories) – all chosen by Borges as the works he wanted his literary legacy to be based upon. For those unacquainted, Borges was a brilliant Argentine author whose writings were philosophical, mystical, erudite, and brief. He was the perfect writer for those of us who love ideas and contemplation of the world, but who also suffer deficits of attention. He wrote in bitesize pieces, but those bites couldn’t have been more intensely flavored with ideas and evocative and provocative commentary. His subject matter includes lofty topics such as the lives of Homer, Shakespeare, and Buddha, but also crude, visceral experiences such as a knife fight.
Needless to say, I’m a huge fan of Borges’ work, and couldn’t resist reading his choices for his personal best – even having recently read many of the pieces – particularly the better-known ones. It’s worth noting that Borges’ choices include a great many of the works that others have called his best work, e.g. “The Aleph,” “Borges and I,” “Biography of Tadeo Isidoro Cruz (1829 – 1874,)” “The Zahir,” “The Maker,” “Averröes’ Search,” “The Golem,” “Circular Ruins,” etc. The biggest surprise of the collection was that it included much more poetry than I expected. The works I’ve read previously contained minimal poetry, but I’d say this collection is about half poems.
I can’t recommend this book enough. It’s thought-provoking and magnificently written / translated. I would normally say that I’m not qualified to comment on the skill of translation other than to say the book read well, but the two translators wrote an epilogue that I think showed they could channel the mystery and creativity of Jorge Luis Borges.
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Thin Cities [Free Verse]
There are cities where the veneer of normality is so thin that it feels as though one could fall through at any time, plummeting into the true city. Varanasi, New Orleans, Tokyo after midnight, parts of Prague & Bangkok I can't say what's beneath the veneer, but, oh, does part of me want to know! These are places better visited than lived in, for their magic cannot survive extended proximity.
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Pensive [Free Verse]
In days of old, did pensive dancers loaf about, leaning on temple doorjambs? Or, was that only the case in the minds of sculptors?
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The Forest [Free Verse]
A sprout sprouts from the dirt. Above, dead leaves keep the tender leaf cool & moist. Below, worms churn the soil -- churn and aerate. Fungi decompose the lowest leaf layer, turning it into nutrients for the sprout. I'm tapped into all that magic from afar: -creation & destruction, feeding into each other -energy becoming life, life becoming matter, matter that - in turn - becomes energy. If there's a forest, I am the forest. I'm life and energy & death and decomposition... all in due time.
