Poem of the Day

[KnottedYet]

I don't think I can get the spacing of the lines right, but we'll give this a try.

D@MN THIRSTY

First
The fish needs to say,

"Something ain't right about this
Camel ride--

And I'm
Feeling so d@mn

Thirsty."

-Shams-ud-uddin Muhammmad Hafiz (c. 1320-1389 A.D.)
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

[margo49]

AHHH , Hafez

A liberal translation to say the least.

Yeah, the missing link between Islam and Zen.

Has anyone else noticed that Knot is reading a lot of poetry lately?

'nuff said...

[KnottedYet]

I've always read a lot of poetry. Turned it into a Bachelor's degree, too. Edited a poetry magazine briefly. Very briefly.

Not too bad at writing parodies (anybody remember "The Naming of Bikes"?) but otherwise can't write my way out of a wet paper bag.

I like reading poetry.
Novels are too long for my limited attention span.

[Bad JuJu]

The Red Bicycle (with apologies to William Carlos Williams)

So much depends
upon
a red
bicycle
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
panniers.

[KnottedYet]

An oldie, but a goodie...


WILD GEESE

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Mary Oliver, "Dream Work" 1986.

[Brandi]

I need moonscreen not
sunscreen it's the nights
the age me fastest it's
the neon girls girls girls
sighn and the light from
aol and yahoo I need some
screenscreen and a bottle of
porn block but they make that.

Exene Cervenka " a beer on every page" 2003

[Bad JuJu]

WILD GEESE

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Mary Oliver, "Dream Work" 1986.

My yoga teacher read this poem last Friday! She always reads a poem as we begin our practice, and she uses Mary Oliver's a lot. I love Oliver!

I esp. love that bit about letting "the soft animal of your body/ love what it loves"--ahhhhhhh...........