When I Have Fears That I Might Cease to Be: John Keats via Maia Porcaro

Keats' Grave

From the wonderful 'Videopoems' section of the Moving Poems website, this visual interpretation of John Keats' powerful poem, "When I Have Fears That I Might Cease to Be:" 


  When I Have Fears from Maia Porcaro on Vimeo.

When I Have Fears That I Might Cease to Be - John Keats
When I have fears that I may cease to be    Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high-pilèd books, in charactery,    Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; When I behold, upon the night’s starred face,    Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, And think that I may never live to trace    Their shadows with the magic hand of chance; And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,    That I shall never look upon thee more, Never have relish in the faery power    Of unreflecting love—then on the shore Of the wide world I stand alone, and think Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.
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so many! on the shore at a hut of reeds reed thrushes

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

  Lots going on at the moment - a reading coming up a week from Saturday, doing a final edit on the forthcoming Yield to the Willow (page down a bit), my 2nd collection, and finalizing the selections for the Haiku Foundation's April Per Diem feature, so Wednesday Haiku is on temporary hiatus and, hopefully, will be back in a week or two.
    best,

Don

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Pravat Kumar Padhy & Gary LeBel: Wednesday Haiku, #149

Photo by Seyed Mostafa Zamani 

tree to tree--
I walk along carrying
shadows

   Pravat Kumar Padhy

 

Photo by Matt

Autumn gusts:
    a vein of darkness moving
through the sea-oats

            Gary LeBel

Photo by Reji

moving clouds--
step by step, so soon
the dawn

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,

Don

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Rumi & Issa: Across Cultures, Across Worlds

Art by Gustave Dore

Recently, in my day job, the poetry group I moderate had a session on the mystic poet Rumi. It was the second best attended meeting, after our session on haiku.

I read lots of Rumi in preparation since, though I appreciated what I'd come across of his work randomly, I hadn't delved deeply. I learned a lot, including the controversy over the 'Americanization,' or New Age approach, to translating his works, which de-emphasizes certain specific religious aspects for a more general spiritual approach. 

While doing some background work, I ran across the following intriguing brief poem, or quatrain:

O my God, what irony it is
That we are at the bottom of hell,
And yet are afraid of
of immortality.

              Rumi 
              translated by Nevit Oguz Ergin

Which immediately called to mind this:

           In this world
we walk on the roof of hell,
          gazing at flowers.

                    Issa
                    translated by Robert Hass

Could it be that, at the core of both these poems, from markedly different cultures, there is a single message? 

Could they be about our lack of attention to what is, both invisible and visible?

Of course even between two brief poems, there may be much that is dissimilar. Still, what is more important: the common ground or the disparities?

Art by Gustave Dore

~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Cuckoo & Hydrangea by Buson

so is haiku hell
over that-a-way...
mountain cuckoo?

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,

Don

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Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 184 songs

A Confluence of Poets: Saturday, February 8th

  

 

Lillie poem archive

 

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Jane Reichhold & Susan Constable: Wednesday Haiku, #148

Photo by Sharon Drummond

a curve of her breast
signaling desire he strokes
            her wine goblet

        Jane Reichhold

 

 Blue Bottle fly, Austin Ferry, Tasmania

ferry crossing
the fly
takes a window seat

       Susan Constable

Photo by Keoni Cabral

from the thin curve
of the sickle moon...
one leaf falls

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

 
best,

Don

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Sir Patrick Spens: Issa's Sunday Service, #184

Photo by Kim Traynor art by Charles Cameron Baillie 

If widget is wonky, click here   One of the great ballads of English literature, "Sir Patrick Spens" tells a tale of a sailor, the sea and tragedy, the stuff of legend. It has been covered many times by folk musicians through the years, such as Buffy St. Marie, the great Robin Williamson, and a true legend himself, Ewan MacColl. I've chosen a version by Fairport Convention, since they lean more to folk-rock and, well, because I like it very much.

One can hardly ignore the Sandy Denny version, with Fairport Convention, so here is that for those prefer her dulcet tones:

And for those who prefer their ballads on the page, you can find it here since it's a little long to include in a post.

----------------------

Wikicommons

cursing like sailors
in the plum tree...
crows

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,

Don

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 Send one haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.
  Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 184 songs 

Jennifer Burd & Michael Newell: Wednesday Haiku, #147

 

Photo by NadejdaM

wind ripples the pond –
small fish nibble
pieces of moonlight

   Jennifer Burd

 

Photo by Dvortygirl

weight of life
butterfly poised
on lad's thumb

Michael L. Newell

  Photo by Jeltovski

evening moon--
pond snails singing
in the kettle

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,

Don

PS. Get 2 free issues. Get 2 more free issues

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Happy New Year, 2014: Haiku Challenge

Artwork by John T. McCutcheon
 

Well, as my father used to say, I should have known better. The modest little one week challenge/call for New Year's haiku elicited quite an amazing response, so amazing as to cause me to adjust a bit my original plan.

So, I've selected 6 haiku for your reading pleasure, the first and winner, by Alan Bridges, warrants a 15 issue, rather than 6 issue, subscription to Lilliput Review as originally announced. The 5 runners-up, a category I originally had no intention of utilizing, will receive the original first place prize of a 6 issue subscription (or 6 issue extension to a current subscription) to Lillie. 

The runners-up are presented in no particular order.

And cheers, first, to everyone who responded. There were many a fine haiku that just missed the cut, for a variety of reasons not the least of which is editorial ignorance. 

And second, cheers to the winners and runners-up (I'll be in touch about your subscriptions). For the rest, I hope something grabs you here. 

Happy new year, all!

 

New Year's Day
setting my playlist
to shuffle

   Alan Bridges

new year's day
the earth
retracing her steps

          Robert Davey

new year's day –
I let the tea steep
a little longer

        Angie Werren

Artwork by Andrew Stevovich

     New Year’s day
the party hat not made
         to stay on

                      Gary Hotham

Twilight Zone: Season 5, Episode 145 (directed by Ida Lupino)

New Year
all the masks
yet to discard
yet to try on

Andrea Grillo

Photo by Alvimann

year’s end
the to-do list
in pencil

Ann K. Schwader

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Because serendipity is the only way to travel, I investigated the artist responsible for the artwork I'd found to grace this post (pictured at the very top), and was fascinated to read his story, which you can find by clicking on his name below the picture. 

Along with the writer of the article on McCutcheon (R. C. Harvey), I was particularly fascinated with the artwork below, entitled The Ballad of Beautiful Words. Clicking on the art won't enlarge it enough to read, so click here instead and I think you'll agree that many a poem may be found within.

click here to see picture enlarged 

In the late 19th century during the the artist's early career all the illustrative material in newspapers was drawn, as it was previous to the perfection of photographs for newsprint. So, the artist literally drew everything: sports, news, crime, portraits and sundry topics. What follows is Carey Orr's comment on perhaps the most significant contribution of all by McCutcheon, something which, at the time, was entitled "slow ball:"

 “John McCutcheon was the father of the human interest cartoon. His Bird Center series was perhaps the first to break way from the Nast and Davenport tradition of dealing almost exclusively and in the most intense seriousness with political and moral reforms. McCutcheon brought change of pace. He was the first to throw the slow ball in cartooning, to draw the human interest picture that was not produced to change votes or to amend morals but solely to amuse or to sympathize."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Art by Walter Appleton Clark

an arm for a pillow--
the year ends
or doesn't end

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,

Don

PS. Get 2 free issues. Get 2 more free issues

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Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 183 songs