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shang2ti
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Name: Larry
Country: United States
State: Florida
Birthday: 8/10/1927
Gender: Male
Interests: Poetry, Reading (especially historical mysteries), Celtic history, Baseball Cards
Expertise: When I discover one, you will be among the first to know....
Occupation: Retired
Industry: Education/Research
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
4/9/2001
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| In Wellington NZ, where my son and his family have recently moved, the time is
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| I haven't been writing much poetry lately (like, none!); the best thing to do at such times is read the poetry of others. Wandering through the verses of William Butler Yeats, I gleaned these glimpses of insight and beauty.
William
Butler Yeats [1865-1939]: "I believe in the practice and the philosophy
of what we have agreed to call magic...in the vision of truth in the
depths of the mind when the eyes are closed."
... [1901]
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
===================== "Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" [1899]
Like a long-legged fly upon the stream
His mind moves upon silence.
===================== "Long-legged Fly" [1938?]
Bodily decrepitude is wisdom; young
We loved each other and were ignorant.
==================== "After Long Silence" [1933]
I said: "A line will take us hours maybe;
Yet if it does not seem a moment's thought,
Our stitching and unstitching has been naught."
==================== "Adam's Curse" [1902]
I must lie down where all the ladders start,
In the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart.
==================== "The Circus Animal's Desertion" [1939?]
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
==================== "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" [1892]
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| All Fools' Day#2321 All Fools' Day
All Fools' Day (April Fools' Day) has been around for a long time. Prior to the institution of the Gregorian calendar, the date
was observed as New Year's day by many cultures, including the Roman
and the Hindu. Generally, it is associated with the culmination of the
8-day festival of the vernal equinox, which began on March 21 [March 25
by the old calendar] and ended April 1. During the 18th century All Fools' Day
became very popular in England, where it was only a half-day, for
traditionally, jokes have to be played before noon, after which the
victim is entitled to turn the tables by shouting,
April Fool's gone past,
And you're the biggest fool at last.
The first of April is the day we remember
what we are the other 364 days of the year.
==Mark Twain
April comes like an idiot,
babbling and strewing flowers.
==Edna St. Vincent Millay
APRIL FOOL, n. The March fool with another month
added to his folly.
== Ambrose Bierce. The Devil's Dictionary.
The first of April, some do say,
Is set apart for All Fools' Day.
But why the people call it so,
Nor I, nor they themselves do know.
But on this day are people sent
On purpose for pure merriment.
==Poor Robin's Almanac (1790).
Also on this day:
1976: Apple Computer was founded.
April 1st is the birthday of the mischievous Weasley Twins (Fred and George) from the Harry Potter series.
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| Sijo from Korean KisaengIn the classical period, Korean kisaeng were courtesans who entertained court officials and
others of high rank. Though frequently of lower birth, these women were
often highly intelligent, trained in conversation, dancing, painting,
and literature. Profiting from the less-inhibited nature of their
calling, kisaeng felt free to express personal emotions in their
writing. Their language often included fresh imagery, humorous similes
and thinly veiled, risqué metaphors. Their sijo, usually dealing with love, were often fresher, more personal and more imaginative than those produced by male members of the royal courts.
Chin-ok
Chin-ok was a kisaeng in Choson (Korea). That is all that is known about her.
They told me it was metal, but I didn't believe a word.
But now I find it's iron of the strongest, finest kind.
Ah! Here is my little bellows, I think I'll melt it down.
In this sijo, her only one to come down to us, Chin-ok uses "metal" and "bellows" as sexual innuendoes to comment on the prowess of a potential lover.
Hanu
Hanu, a pen name meaning Cold Rain, was one of the most talented Korean kisaeng during the reign of King Sonjo (r. 1567-1608). We know nothing else about her, not even her real name, except that she lived in Kaesong, the capital.
According to legend, at a party the poet Im Che sang a sijo honoring Hanu's beauty. In his verse he mentioned that he had traveled thru a cold rain to get to the celebration, and that he would likely freeze in bed as a result. She answered him immediately with the following verse.
Freeze in bed! How can you say that? Why suffer in slumber that way?
How about a kingfisher quilt and a mandarin pillow?
Having faced cold rain today, Why not melt in her bed tonight?
"Cold rain" is, of course a pun on Hanu, the kisaeng's professional name. Her quilt was evidently decorated with kingfishers — crested, long-beaked, brilliantly-colored birds — and her pillows were embroidered with mandarin ducks (won-ang sae).
Myongok
Myongok was a kisaeng in Suwon in the late sixteenth century. Her name means Bright Jade. Sometimes this verse is attributed to another kisaeng, Maehwa.
Though I love him in my dreams it is painful to wake alone;
but I see him only in dreams, so what else is there to do?
Come every night, dream lover, and somehow I’ll manage morning.
Adaptations © 2004, 2005 Larry Gross
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| The mark of a writer
There is only one trait that marks the writer. He is always watching. It's a kind of trick of mind and he is born with it.
==Morley Callaghan
The tools I need for my trade are paper, tobacco, food, and a little whiskey.
==William Faulkner
If writers were good businessmen, they'd have too much sense to be writers.
== Irvin S. Cobb
Someday I hope to write a book where the royalties will pay for the copies I give away.
==Clarence Darrow
He was one of those men who think that the world can be saved by writing a pamphlet.
==Denis Diderot
http://thewordshop.tripod.com/index
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