02024-01-16 | Poetry
Hermits tend to go to bed when the sun goes down, but not on moonlit nights.
from The Mountain Poems of Stonehouse
translated by Red Pine
That’s not a line from one of the poems. Rather it’s from a commentary by Red Pine. I think it’s an evocative poem all by itself.
02023-07-12 | Book, Poetry
Books are carefully folded forests.
–Saul Williams
Read a few of his poems yesterday. So good.
02023-06-11 | Book, Poetry
In Los Angeles, browsing Chinatown one summer, I discovered — in a dim sandalwood-scented shop full of painted vases and antique scrolls — a book by D. T. Suzuki: Zen and Japanese Culture. It was a substantial hardback, printed on milky paper with a hefty scattering of illustrations: insects on withered leafs, brush-painted tigers, peach blossoms in snow, monkeys peering from bamboo, cloud-hidden huts of meditation masters. In the shop, a few joss sticks burned in a ray of light. A cat napped under a red and gold altar with antique photos over it. Tangerines glowed in their porcelain bowl on a carved mahogany table. The world seemed suddenly very old — and very new. In awe of the book’s content and illustrations, I purchased it (probably the most I’d ever spent on the printed word) and eagerly devoured every page.
Trigger of Light | Kyoto Journal
Article by John Brandi in Kyoto Journal.
Also this:
Among the grasses
an unknown flower
blooming white
—Masaoka Shiki (1869—1902)
02023-05-23 | Poetry
are we lost
when we gaze at the moon
or lovers eyes
or are we lost
when we hustle to fill a quota
or run after the bus
Found on this post from 2010.
02023-02-19 | Poetry
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine sent me a Derek Walcott poem (shared below). Since she sent it, I’ve been reading it almost daily.
It’s a gorgeous piece of writing, a reminder to embrace the alone-ness, when the time comes.
Walcott – un. deux.. trois…
Follow the link to the poem, entitled Love After Love.
02022-12-28 | Poetry, Quotes
From Rainer Maria Rilke’s July 1903 Letter to a Young Poet.
Perhaps then, some day far into the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.
I love, love, love that: Live your way into the answer.
Here is the original German version:
Vielleicht leben sie dann allmählich, ohne es zu merken, eines fernen Tages in die Antwort hinein.