Share the Wealth: It’s National Poetry Month
On Sunday 10 April I invite you to share a favorite poem or two with us, whether by a poet you love or one of your own poems. Or you can tell us a story involving poetry, as you…
On Sunday 10 April I invite you to share a favorite poem or two with us, whether by a poet you love or one of your own poems. Or you can tell us a story involving poetry, as you…
America you don’t really want to go to war.America its them bad Russians.Them Russians them Russians and them Chinamen. And them Russians. The Russia wants to eat us alive. The Russia’s power mad. She wants to…
I went to my grandfather’s to say good-bye:I was going away to a school out West.As I came in,My grandfather turned from the window at which he sat(sick, skin yellow, eyes bleary–but his hair still…
James Laughlin, Ezra Pound’s publisher, observed that “Pound’s translations of Confucian texts, beautiful as is their language, are seldom applauded by Sinologues.” But we common readers may appreciate such versions from the Analects, when they…
Cold Mountain: 100 Poems by the T’ang Poet Han-shanTranslated and with an Introduction by Burton Watson I first learned of Han-shan 30 years ago when reading Jack Kerouac’s novel, The Dharma Bums, which starred Japhy…
Recently Yael asked me to share some favorite haiku writers, which I happily sent along, along with Yoel Hoffman’s book, Japanese Death Poems. I received the following response. 10/24/21 What a delight. Three big envelops all…
First Thought: Conversations with Allen GinsbergEdited by Michael Schumacher When it comes to interviews with Ginsberg, I prefer the larger and deeper Spontaneous Mind, which warrants a complete rereading. But then I come across…
(After Reading Riverbed of Memory) I admit itI am filled with guiltWe didn’t do enough back in the 80sWhen the Reaganites were determinedTo crush the RevolutionTrue, you might say, the Sandinistas were far from perfectBut…
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, An Elegy to Dispel Gloom
Calamus is one of the riches sections of Leaves of Grass! I recognized many poems worth rereading and sharing with others. Some will be full memorized, others in part. Allen Ginsberg wondered why the Gay…