Quote:
Originally posted by Roger Slater:
as one who has logged more than his share of hours in subways stations, I can assure you that the faces of people there are not even slightly similar to leaves or petals on a flowering tree.
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Here I'll have to disagree. They are very much like that. I think of poplar leaves when I read this or of the hawthorne in the back yard of a house I lived in some years ago. The fact that they are on a wet, black bough suggests late fall, desolation, Shakespeares yellow leaves on boughs that shake against the cold. A subway is about the most desolate place in the world. The faces are lifeless, blank, and washed out. The carefully placed words create an image that is convincing.
I have read a lot of zen poetry, Chinese and Japanese, and think this one could hold its own for that sort of imagery, though it seems a little gauche to compare the poems of the ancient masters to other poetry.
I guess we have to agree that we interpret differently.