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.a poem for Earth Day: "The Plum Tree at My Mountain Hut"
Things are calmer today. I think the summer is starting to work itself out, logistics-wise, and my fuck-up, while still embarrassing, has been resolved as best it can. (Hopefully, this is actually the case.) What helps is that the sun has come back, and everyone's gardens are blooming. So, for poetry month and Earth Day, a poem by the twelfth-century Japanese poet Saigyō, translated by Burton Watson (from the Sankashū, translated as Poems of a Mountain Home, 1991).
Take note:
the plum tree by my rustic hedge
halted in his tracks
a total stranger
who happened by
[Kokoro sen shizu ga kakine no mume wa aya na
yoshi naku suguru hito todomekeri]
I haven't been as diligent in my poetry reading lately. For some reason, writing is easier after reading poetry; the thinking is more direct, more concentrated on the words and image together instead of piling word on word into something I hope is a picture. Need to remember to do this more often.
For now though, outside with the dogs \o/
Take note:
the plum tree by my rustic hedge
halted in his tracks
a total stranger
who happened by
[Kokoro sen shizu ga kakine no mume wa aya na
yoshi naku suguru hito todomekeri]
I haven't been as diligent in my poetry reading lately. For some reason, writing is easier after reading poetry; the thinking is more direct, more concentrated on the words and image together instead of piling word on word into something I hope is a picture. Need to remember to do this more often.
For now though, outside with the dogs \o/