that it lifted my house
creating a mouth
which spoke.
"See the woman
inside the fledgling
and its mother's beak
preventing its fall?
See how
earth and sky court you
as the sun brings chrysanthemums
to egret and bamboo shoot?"
The wind was such
that it lifted my house
into fits of Eastern pretension
but soon,
the West wind's anger
was spun by the East
into silks of silence.
(Sum Dum Luk 1684-1729)
_______
poem #4 for my 39 in 39 days.
There's an interesting spacing here in these broken stanzas that reminds me of drawing uneven breaths. All the elements surely are at war these days, within and without us. We must find our chrysanthemums wherever we can. Lovely alliteration/assonance throughout, especially the smooth as velvet finish.
ReplyDeleteI love this voice. So gentle and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteGobsmacked. Brilliant translation of the Anti-Haiku poet Sum Dum (aka Dim Sum, "The A-La-Carte Pork Bun Poet"), one of the greatest after Basho. (And by "after Basho", I mean chasing Basho around the Old Pond with frogs impaled on bamboo poles...)
ReplyDeleteAnd this: "The wind was such / that it lifted my house / creating a mouth //
which spoke."
TBH, I don't have any vocabulary to talk about why that is so good. So one of my challenges in April is to stretch my critical skills. (Is NoPoWriMo in April in honor of The Waste Land?)
The last lines are perfect.
No words. Each day, more brilliant. I hope to see Sum Dum Luck again soon. Smiles.
ReplyDeleteI am with Sherry....no words I can say...this is utterly one of the most gentle and lovely poems I have ever read! I love your label about haikus....LOL it made me laugh so hard! It is always a sheer delight to read your poetry Shay!!
ReplyDeleteMaybe Baby Jane read too many haikus?
ReplyDelete"... silks of silence." Gorgeous.