Category Archives: Poetry
Full of Meanness
Of The Empire by Mary Oliver We will be known as a culture that feared death and adored power, that tried to vanquish insecurity for the few and cared little for the penury of the many. We will be known as a culture that taught and rewarded the amassing of things, that spoke little if …
I rush
I am near to the thought of My servant as he thinks about Me, and I am with him as he remembers Me. And if he remembers Me in his heart, I also remember him in My Heart, and if he remembers Me in assembly I remember him in assembly, better than his (remembrance), and …
Good For You
In spring, hundreds of flowers; in autumn, a harvest moon; in summer, a refreshing breeze; in winter, snow will accompany you. If useless things do not hang in your mind, Any season is a good season for you. ~Wumen Huikai (1183–1260)
Anyway
I love that it starts with the word “anyway.” It gives it a casual, personal feel. via Draw & Wings
I pray thee, then
“When you see that beings have fallen, just as you have, into the ocean of existence and are stumbling, unable to walk in a safe direction, because the eye of wisdom– which distinguishes what to adopt and what to discard– for them is closed, is it not better to care for others and to strive …
Then I Walked Outside
Don’t Go Back to Sleep by Rumi For years, copying other people, I tried to know myself. From within, I couldn’t decide what to do. Unable to see, I heard my name being called. Then I walked outside. The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep. You must ask …
The Way
“If I knew the way, I would take you home.” ~Robert Hunter • “I know you’re tired, but come, this is the way.” ~Rumi
Speaks
yagate shinu keshiki wa miezu semi no koe Of its approaching death The cicada speaks Not a word ~Matsuo Bashō, translated by Hart Larrabee, from Haiku: Classic Japanese Short Poems © 2016 Does Bashō think the cicadas are frivolous, or does he admire their ability to live solely in the moment? We don’t know. Because …
Enough
The poem below was written by Kurt Vonnegut to memorialize his friend Joseph Heller: JOE HELLER by Kurt Vonnegut (via) True story, Word of Honor: Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer now dead, and I were at a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island. I said, “Joe, how does it make you …
Blake, the much despised
Casey at the Bat Ernest Lawrence Thayer The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day: The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play, And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same, A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game. A straggling few …
18th Century Hippy
Too lazy Ryōkan Taigu from The Zen Poems of Ryokan, translation ©2014 Too lazy to be ambitious, I let the world take care of itself. Ten days’ worth of rice in my bag; a bundle of twigs by the fireplace. Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment? Listening to the night rain on my roof, I …
And now, for something completely different…
I’m re-reading I Wait for the Moon: 100 Haiku of Momoko Kuroda, ©2014 by Abigail Friedman. It does a wonderful job of placing the haiku in context and providing supporting details not generally known in the West. The commentary really makes the haiku come alive, making it much more rich and colorful. These two little …
