early morning
rays hit the canopy
and fan out
into gold bands of light:
spotlights with no targets
Golden Spotlight [Tanka]
3
Tag Archives: tanka
Monkey Forest [Free Verse]
in the monkey forest, i think of Sun Wukong & Hanuman as a macaque steals my sunglasses
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Rain & Waves [Tanka]
waves crashing
on a rain-darkened shore
lull me to sleep,
as pelted boatmen
tug their boats inland
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Dragonfly [Kyōka]
the dragonfly is still, and I wonder whether it's dead, and further wonder whether anyone has thought that of me
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Green City [Tanka]
a desert city stretches green between the mountains; do people choose trees, or do trees co-opt humans?
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Line of Blindness [Tanka]
mountains peek from clouds. moments before they'd hid well; i can't help but think about all those times, flying through clouds, blindly
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Rock Agama [Tanka]
a Rock Agama peeks over a rock, stops, and tries to be inconspicuously bright orange
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Nocturnal [Kyōka]
owl sticks its head out, staring in silent rebuke as if to say: "Hey! I'm nocturnal. What's with all the ruckus?"
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BOOK REVIEW: The Spirit of Japanese Poetry by Yoné Noguchi
The Spirit of Japanese Poetry by Yoné NoguchiMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Amazon.in Page
Free Online at Wikisource
This book-length essay, originally published in 1914, discusses the unique style and aesthetic of Japanese poetry. It’s written for an audience of English language readers and advances its objective not only by presenting illuminating translations of Japanese poetry, but also by comparing Japanese poetry to English language poetry.
Noguchi takes a no-holds-barred approach to literary criticism that is both the strength and weakness of the book, sometimes it feels as though the author’s boldness is granting deep insight into the subject, but other times it reads as though the author is tribally narrow-minded and curmudgeonly. By “tribally narrow-minded,” I mean that he takes the view that the Japanese aesthetic and approach to art is always and in everyway superior to non-Japanese art (in this case, English language poetry.) Interestingly, he frequently compliments specific artists, e.g. Walt Whitman, but doesn’t have anything nice to say about English language poetry in general. By “curmudgeonly,” I mean that he takes the popular — if biased –view that the world is going to shit, and – in the section on modern poetry – it is only after discussing how the art has fallen on hard times that he can discuss a few modern poets who’ve produced some poems worthy of adoration [and some worthy examples of the modern form (Shintaishi.)]
One might think this bigoted view would cripple his book (as bigoted views usually do,) but because what he’s promising is depth of insight into the Japanese poetic aesthetic, he is able to succeed just fine. [Also, to be fair, being highly opinionated and pretentious were hallmarks of critics of his era – just usually not so nationalistically.] Noguchi does a great job of selecting evocative examples, providing powerful translations, and illuminating the Japanese mindset as it pertains to art and poetry.
If you’re interested in Japanese poetry and the psychology that influences Japanese artistic tastes, this short book is highly recommended. [Just be prepared to be offended if you aren’t a hardcore Japanophile.]
View all my reviews
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Thorny Nightshade [Tanka]
thorny leaves and poisonous fruits; if ever a plant wanted to be left alone!
the !n(tro)verted yogi 