Poem

William Stafford: Being a Person

Be a person here. Stand by the river, invokethe owls. Invoke winter, then spring.Let any season that wants to come here make its owncall. After that sound goes away, wait. A slow bubble rises through the earthand begins to include sky, stars, all space,even the outracing, expanding thought.Come back and hear the little sound again. … Continue reading →

Sylvia Plath “Insomniac”

The night is only a sort of carbon paper,Blueblack, with the much-poked periods of starsLetting in the light, peephole after peephole . . .A bonewhite light, like death, behind all things.Under the eyes of the stars and the moon’s rictusHe suffers his desert pillow, sleeplessnessStretching its fine, irritating sand in all directions. Over and over … Continue reading →

Alejandra Pizarnik: She wants to speak…

  2  [untitled] She wants to speak, but I know what she is. She believes love is death—even if everything devoid of love disgusts her. Since her love makes her innocent, why should she speak? Mistress of the Castle, her fingers play upon mirrors of pronouns. With every word I write I remember the void … Continue reading →

Wei Wu Wei: “For Sile” / Shōmei Tōmatsu

I am the sea too, and the stars, the wind and the rain, I am everything that has form — for form is my seeing of it. I am every sound — for sound is my hearing of it, I am all flavours, each perfume, whatever can be touched, For that which is perceptible is … Continue reading →

Fukuda Chiyo-ni: one of the greatest poets of haiku

dragonfly hunter how far has he traveled today I wonder?  Chiyo-ni Said to be written after the death of her son. Her only child. . Fukuda Chiyo-ni (Kaga no Chiyo) (福田 千代尼; 1703 – 2 October 1775) was a Japanese poet of the Edo period, widely regarded as one of the greatest female haiku poets. … Continue reading →

I heard of a man … Leonard Cohen

Baby, I’ve been waiting, I’ve been waiting night and day. I didn’t see the time, I waited half my life away. There were lots of invitations and I know you sent me some, but I was waiting for the miracle, for the miracle to come. I know you really loved me. but, you see, my … Continue reading →

Bob Dylan: “I’m a poet, and I know it”

Bob Dylan has been awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”. Just over 50 years ago, following the release of his fifth album, Bringing It All Back Home, the Guardian published Chimes of freedom flashing – a look at the poetry of Bob … Continue reading →

The Season of Phantasmal Peace: Derek Walcott / Espen Erichsen

Then all the nations of birds lifted together the huge net of the shadows of this earth in multitudinous dialects, twittering tongues, stitching and crossing it. They lifted up the shadows of long pines down trackless slopes, the shadows of glass-faced towers down evening streets, the shadow of a frail plant on a city sill— … Continue reading →

Ripenso il tuo sorriso: Eugenio Montale / Boris Kniaseff

“Ripenso il tuo sorriso, ed è per me un’acqua limpida scorta per avventura tra le petraie d’un greto, esiguo specchio in cui guardi un’ellera i suoi corimbi; e su tutto l’abbraccio di un bianco cielo quieto. Codesto è il mio ricordo; non saprei dire, o lontano, se dal tuo volto si esprime libera un’anima ingenua, … Continue reading →

Pull A String, A Puppet Moves: Charles Bukowski / Chris Friel

pull a string, a puppet moves … each man must realize that it can all disappear very quickly: the cat, the woman, the job, the front tire, the bed, the walls, the room; all our necessities including love, rest on foundations of sand – and any given cause, no matter how unrelated: the death of … Continue reading →

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock : T.S.Elliot / Diana Blok

S’io credesse che mia risposta fosse A persona che mai tornasse al mondo, Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma percioche giammai di questo fondo Non torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero, Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo. Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a … Continue reading →

Love at First Sight : Wislawa Szymborska / Peter Seelig

Love at First Sight They’re both convinced that a sudden passion joined them. Such certainty is beautiful but uncertainty is more beautiful still. Since they’d never met before, they’re sure that there’d been nothing between them. But what’s the word from the streets, staircases, hallways – perhaps they’ve passed each other by a million times? … Continue reading →

PARIS: Louis Aragon / Marc Chagall

PARIS Où fait-il bon même au coeur de l’orage Où fait-il clair même au coeur de la nuit L’air est alcool et le malheur courage Carreaux cassés l’espoir encore y luit Et les chansons montent des murs détruits Jamais éteint renaissant de la braise Perpétuel brûlot de la patrie Du Point-du-Jour jusqu’au Père-Lachaise Ce doux … Continue reading →

Past One O’Clock : Vladimir Mayakovsky / Peter Seelig

1 She loves me-loves me not. My hands I pick and having broken my fingers fling away. So the first daisy-heads one happens to flick are plucked, and guessing, scattered into May. Let a cut and shave reveal my grey hairs. Let the silver of the years ring out endlessly ! Shameful common sense – … Continue reading →

Song of the Open Road – Walt Whitman