Epilogue

I have crossed an ocean
I have lost my tongue
from the root of the old one
a new one has sprung.

Grace Nichols

Swinburne's cheap shot at Oscar Wilde:

When Oscar came to join his God,
Not earth to earth, but sod to sod,
It was for sinners such as this
Hell was created bottomless.

Making a case for his belief that the Haiku form is not well suited to English, in his collections "A Net of Fireflies" and "A Chime of Windbells" Harold Stewart presented translations in a more indigenous form of couplets, like these:

ON A DRAWING BY SOKEI-AN

The black cat’s face: an unexpected dawn
Has swallowed midnight in a wide pink yawn.

Hô-ô

PERFECTION

The host said not a word. The guest was dumb.
And silent, too, the white crysanthemum.

Ryôta

THE MASTER STROKE

A seedling shoulders up some crumbs of ground:
The fields are suddenly green for miles around!

Hô-ô

FIRE AND WATER

Can these be sparks of rain or drops of light?
Fireflies darting through a shower at night.

Moritake

OLD FRIENDS

Ah, leaves remaining, ask the autumn squall
Which from your bough will be the next to fall!

Sôseki




[This message has been edited by Mario Pita (edited December 15, 2003).]

The shortest poem I have ever heard is this one, entitled

"Fleas"

Adam
had 'em.


As far as I recall, this was written by that fine poet - Anon.

Does anyone know a shorter one?

Mark, I do. John Mella published it, and I do not know the author.

Dust

I must.

I have to say that Mario's quoted translations from the Orient took me apart. Talk about compression.

Mario
At last! Harold Stewart is so right and aren't they marvellous?
Thanks for posting them.
Janet

Dear Mr. Pita:

Bless you.

nyctom

Tim,

That must be the winner - your short poem is a whole foot shorter than mine.

I did compose a single word poem 20 years ago for my daughter's name - Rayne:

The first three letters are of light - the whole word a homophone of rain. And she will certainly reign over my heart forever.

Actually, I remember Jeffers used the name "Reine" for a character in "The Double Axe". I liked the name and fiddled with the spelling.

And Spenser uses the spelling "Rayne" for "rein" (FQ 1.4.9.5), and for "reign" FQ. 2.7.44.1), and for "rain" (FQ. 7.7.23.8).

Cheers

Nope. That's not the name of that poem.

It's called:

Lines on the Antiquity of the Microbe
by Strickland Gallilan

Adam
Had'em.


[This message has been edited by diprinzio (edited December 16, 2003).]

The Thin Man
by Donald Justice

I indulge myself
In rich refusals.
Nothing suffices.

I hone myself to
This edge. Asleep, I
Am a horizon.

Nemerov wrote a bunch of good shorts. Here's a few:

Power To The People

Why are the stamps adorned with kings and presidents?
That we may lick their hinder parts and thump their heads.

Morning Sun

How many more this morning are there dead of
the peace I came to bring a sword instead of?


The God Of This World

He smiles to see His children, born to sin,
Digging those foxholes there are no atheists in.


A Life

Innocence?
In a sense.
In no sense!

Was that it?
Was that it?
Was that it?

That was it.