Poetry. Translations of poetry, mostly classical Chinese and Japanese. Anything else I want to write.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
BEING A NURSE
when they burst in on him
he jumped out the window
the mob caught him
and left him dazed and bleeding
naked in the street
in the hospital
the night shift heard
there were death threats
and pushed furniture
against the back door
of the nursing unit
in the morning
one of the two policemen
takes off his kevlar vest
my patient is impassive
and silent
I rub lotion on his back
and put vaseline
on his puffy lips
he says thank you
out at the station
they say
oh that one's yours
how could someone do that
to a five-year-old girl
Friday, April 13, 2012
THE ALBANIAN LANGUAGE HAS LOST 100% 0F ITS ORIGINAL VOCABULARY
Which is more me
the lemon drop melting in my mouth
or the spit drying on my finger?
a mangled, still-warm severed thumb
or a well-formed stool in my sigmoid colon?
my forgotten ideas about the syntax of "The Blue Juniata"
or the unconscious grammar common to us all?
Which is more me
I, lying blankly here,
or this yellowed paper in your hand?
Friday, April 6, 2012
MERCY SAVETH
in modern English:
Mercy is hendest Mercy is most ready
Where sinne is mest. Where sin is most.
Mercy is latere Mercy is slower
There sinne is lest. Where sin is least.
Mercy abideth Mercy abides
And looketh al day And looks all day
When man fro sinne [For] when man from sin
Will turnen away. Will turn away.
Mercy saveth Mercy saves
That lawe wolde spille. What law would destroy.
Mercy asketh Mercy asks
But Godes wille. But God's will.
--Anonymous
This little poem has gone through my mind often ever since I first came across it abt thirty yrs ago. I've written it down from memory, so it may not be correct in every jot and/or tittle. And of course, my interpretation of "sinne" and "Godes wille" is not the most orthodox.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
INDRA'S NET
Each the deep red jewel of the world
and its irredeemable flaw,
the nullity of their union
and the flickering back and forth.
and its irredeemable flaw,
the nullity of their union
and the flickering back and forth.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
PLENTY OF NOTHING
that the sky's not torn
by the blackbird cutting across
that the embolus paces exactly
the absence in the blood
by the blackbird cutting across
that the embolus paces exactly
the absence in the blood
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