For Eileen
The mists rise over The still pools at Asuka. Memory does not Pass away so easily. –Yamabe no Akahito, 8th century translated by Kenneth Rexroth
Category: World Literature
Note to a Friend on the Back of Allen Ginsberg’s Poem, Death and Fame
This poem is pure Allen, Lovable and vain Allen to the end You gotta love him– Evidently, lots of men did Rereading this poem Lights my fire “He taught me how to meditate, now I’m…
Fifteen Iraqi Poets
So we need poets to challenge received notions, tell us what we don’t know, ask the questions we can’t answer, and wake us up to both doom and Utopia. — Translator and essayist Eliot Weinberger…
Leçon de français d’aujourd’hui
Un poème de Thich Nhat Hanh Ne dites pas, je serai parti demain, car je ne cesse de naître, aujourd’hui encore. Regardez en profondeur : je nais à chaque seconde bourgeon sur une branche printanière,…
The Moon Cannot Be Stolen
Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing in it…
The Grass Is Always Greener on the Other Side of the Fence
I feel oppressed by an error of mind which offends me most as unjust and even more as annoying. I try to correct it, but I cannot root it out. It is that I attach…
Share the Wealth: Poetry Night Sunday 6 April
April is National Poetry Month. In that spirit, select a couple of your favorites, bring several copies to pass around, and we’ll surely hear a variety of poets, themes, historical periods, and styles. Don’t be…
The Poet’s Work and the War’s Work
1. I first came across the poetry of Dunya Mikhail in Eliot Weinberger’s New Directions anthology, World Beat. An Iraqi Christian who speaks Arabic, Aramaic, and English, Mikhail ran afoul of the Iraqi authorities because of her…
Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Et Alia
To hear the big fellows talk, they wage war from fear of God and for all things bright and beautiful, but just look into it, and you’ll see they’re not so silly: they want a…
To My Friends by Primo Levi
Dear friends, and here I say friends the broad sense of the word: Wife, sister, associates, relatives, Schoolmates of both sexes, People seen only once Or frequented all my life; Provided that between us, for…