Sunday, August 31, 2014

Lariat: Issa's Sunday Service, #191 (& a parenthetical 192)



From one of the best, if not the best, albums of the year (Wig Out at Jagbags), Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks song, Lariat.

It's not everyday Tennyson gets a nod in a rock song (although there is this Hold Steady exception to prove the rule (#192)). Here's a dynamite live performance, followed by the lyrics.

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks


 
 
Lariat

Only a chariot could carry it
Across this void

I wouldn’t jerry rig or candy coat your Latin kisses

You’re not what you aren’t
You aren’t what you’re not
You got what you want/You want what you got
People look great when they shave
Don’t they?

We lived on Tennyson and venison and The Grateful Dead
It was Mudhoney summer, Torch of Mystics, Double Bummer

You’re not what you aren’t
You aren’t what you’re not
You got what you want
You want what you got
Feels so great in the shade

A love like oxygen, so foxy then so terrific now
On a jape I’m returning
Bobby spinnin’ out
I was so messed up
You were drunk and high
Just a ramblin’ wreck
Comin’ off the breaks to see what was shaking

We grew up listening to the music from the best decade ever
Talkin’ about the A-D-Ds
We grew up listening to the music from the best decade ever


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As my morning reading of Middle Eastern ghazals - Hafiz and Ghalib -, William Stafford, W. S. Merwin, the new Buson, and Haiku in English continues, this Robert Bly poems keep rising to the fore.

Here's a beautiful moment, indeed:

My Father at Forty
I loved him so much. I've said
That before, so don't be surprised.
It was a first love. Go ahead, open
Your hand. Do scissors beat
Paper? Does rock beat scissors?
It's just love and can't be
Explained. Probably it
Happened early. You're looking
At it. The way I found
Of opening a poem I took
From the way he walked into a field  
                                                               Robert Bly



Artwork by Utagawa Kuniyosh


though wrapped in
tissue paper...
a firefly's light
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue



best,
Don

PS  Click to learn how to contribute to Wednesday Haiku.
PPS  Long live Pavement

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Raamesh Gowri Raghaven & Rehn Kovacic:Wednesday Haiku, #189

Photo by Benoy

unfenced:
songs from
the tea garden
     Raamesh Gowri Raghavan


 




clouded mind
      the scent
    of sweet rain

      Rehn Kovacic



Artwork by J. F. Nauman



the nightingale, too
has a merry song...
tea pickers
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue



best,
Don

PS  Click to learn how to contribute to Wednesday Haiku

Sunday, August 24, 2014

William Stafford and the Body Language of the Tribe: Poem for a Sunday Afternoon



Purifying The Language of the Tribe
Walking away means
"Goodbye."
Pointing a knife at your stomach means
“Please don’t say that again.”

Leaning toward you means
“I love you.” 

Raising a finger means
“I enthusiastically agree.”

“Maybe” means
“No.”

“Yes” means
“Maybe.”

Looking like this at you means
“You had your chance.”
                                                        ~ William Stafford

 Back to the picture, above. (Psst: Facebook users, note stanza 5)

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And simply because I haven't had the time and I've been missing the Sunday Service, here's one to keep me honest (The Bar Kays!):





writing with a finger
in the clear blue sky...
"autumn dusk"
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue



best,
Don

PS  Click to learn how to contribute to Wednesday Haiku
 

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Patrick Sweeney & Daryl Nielsen: Wednesday Haiku, #188


bone yellow moon
my father's teeth
outlived him

Patrick Sweeney





your living room
the hundred thousand miles
forgotten

Daryl Nielsen



Photo by Ari Moore via foter


imitating others
hardening their teeth...
tofu for me
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue



best,
Don

PS  Click to learn how to contribute to Wednesday Haiku

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Rehn Kovacic & Paresh Tiwari: Wednesday Haiku, #187

Photo by Bob Jenkins via wikicommons


Morning light--
  cracks in the relationship
       exposed

            Rehn Kovacic


Photo by Prashanthns via wikicommons



mackerel clouds -
the fishing line hooks
a ripple

Paresh Tiwari


Photo by Lainey Paige via wikicommons


ripples on water--
mingling with the larks
a fishing boat
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue



best,
Don

PS  Click to learn how to contribute to Wednesday Haiku