Today's Mutts was too good not to share.
As is the daily Issa posting from David G. Lanoue:
adding themselves
to the bird's nest...
cherry blossoms
tori no su ni tsukuri komareshi sakura kana
.鳥の巣に作り込れし桜哉
Issa, 1808 trans. by David G. Lanoue
best,
Don
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15 comments:
LOl, that is a good one for all Issa fans.
Hahahah!
I wonder if it was intentional!
Aditya:
Indeed, it is intentional - I believe it is the Alan Watts translation!
Don
Watts's translation here (except he used the article 'a' in the second line — "a frog" — and added a "bang" (!) or exclamation point at the end — is one of my two favorites of all (and there are so many English translations wow!) — depending on my mood. The other is by R. H. Blyth:
The old pond
A frog jumps in
The sound of water.
And they are so different from one another, yet that's the yin and the yang of it all . . .
Many thanks for an eternity of laughter! — Basho, Watts, Blyth, Issa's Untidy Hut and Lillie.
here is 10,000 translations of The Frog Poem:
http://www.bopsecrets.org/gateway/passages/basho-frog.htm
and
about 10 years ago I did a "frog" poem... two versions
of:
far beyond moon frog leaps
far beyond frog moon leaps
then there was Cid Corman's translation
which he said was the best one ever!
to which I replied:
so many frogs
in one pond
croaking
(as I recall longhouse published the first one and
lilliput the second)
there is ALSO a series of Frog Poems that Karma did
really neat stuff
Donna, thanks for the insight, the kindness and the laughter!
Don
Ed:
Yes, it was good old bopsecrets I went to to find the translator - Mr. Watts -
I so love the moon variations on frog - far beyond is beautiful.
So many frogs makes so many croaking statements. Wonder full.
Don
Hi, Don! Much obliged, :-)) And please tell Ed Baker I loved this —
so many frogs
in one pond
croaking
Karma Tenzing Wangchuk's "99 frogs" (bottle rockets press) is outstanding in many ways. I still give it as gifts.
I can't resist adding another croak — my variation on a theme:
work drone
a colleague's plastic frog
stares back
Basho and that plastic frog saved me more than once! from jobs that sucked the air out of the room.
Here's to real work & fun-filled plops!
Donna:
Master Ed will most certainly get your message. Plastic frogs reminded me of this one from "Past All Traps," which I did at last night's reading.
Plastic flowers -
who are you
to talk.
Always gets a laugh - and a pause.
Ha!
Don
Donna
not to "one-up" you
however
I (must) have Karma's froggie book as it originally was...
an hand-made event (1999) titled 90 FROGS
via dennis h dutton (Karma Tenzing Wangchuk)
with a delightful hand done drawing colored post-cardish "thing" glued on the back cover
(frogs on a lily-pad gathered 'round an old bull-frog listening to "him" read
so
the bottle rockets edition has 9 add
itional "froggies" ?
NEAT !
here is one:
mrs frog
I was once a tadpole
myself
K.
I'm off to see if I can find one of Karma's elusive frog editions ... I'm the only toad who hasn't read it!
When I saw that comic I wanted to post it too...but am so glad IUH made it possible for me. So glad it got picked up by others.
When I saw that comic I wanted to post it too...but am so glad IUH made it possible for me. So glad it got picked up by others.
Glad you liked, sb ...
In one of the endnotes in his 100 Poems from the Chinese, Rexroth says that in China it's common to imagine the moon as a toad (also as a rabbit, among other things), similar to how many of us in the "west" see a man-in-the-moon face.
Seems to me I've see passing references to each (moon toad and moon rabbit) elsewhere too, though I couldn't say specifically where offhand.
On several occasions, looking at the full moon, I've been able to see the toad or frog -- its head is pointed downward, and its hind legs are extended behind it (or "upward" as you're looking at it). The rabbit also, basically a rabbit's head (seen facing it) with long ears sticking partly up and then bending and flopping downward.
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