Wednesday, May 31, 2006

 

New Posts Shortly

MaPo is completed, and, even though I'll be participating in JuPo, that is a reduced challenge, only one poem every three days. It's going to take me a few days to take care of a couple of other non-poetry matters, but I should get the first new post up over the coming weekend. To whet your appetite, here's a poem from June's first poet:

"Even People Who Can't Love Others"

This is the best of all.
Though it is not as good as a clear September sky,
it may be better than all the flowers in the world.
The moment briefly lingers in the air and melts away,
but that moment is nearer to eternity than pyramids.

This is the best of all.
If it can't compare with cold water a parched throat might gulp down voraciously,
it's as good as fresh boiled rice, eaten with seaweed, egg and salted salmon.
It's a horrible thing, being so pure it makes us forget about starving children
and draws us closer to angels than people.

This is the best of all,
the best we sinful beings could ever have possessed.
Shouldn't we at least be contented that this,
which gives delight to the guard and the prisoner, the enemy and friend alike,
is not a shrine, a castle, gold, much less lying words?

This is the best of all --
this short, simplest melody.
I hold my breath. I softly exhale.
Even people who can't love others weep over Mozart.
If that is an illusion, then the whole world is but a dream.

***

Self-Promotional Note: I've also just had 3 pieces from NaPo/MaPo published at The Adroitly Placed Word. (The audio is by John Vick, the editor.)


Friday, May 26, 2006

 

Index of Poets to Date

12/23 Henrik Nordbrandt (Denmark)
12/24 Miroslav Holub (Czechslovakia)
12/27 Lorna Goodison (Jamaica)
12/30 Marin Sorescu (Romania)
1/03 Lorna Goddison II (Jaimaca)
1/07 Chairil Anwar (Indonesia)
1/11 Tasrima Nasrin (Bangladesh)
1/14 Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresan (Portugal)
1/19 Vasko Popa (Serbia)
1/25 Anna Swir (Poland)
1/30 Shu Ting (China)
2/07 Faiz Ahmed Faiz (Pakistan)
2/14 Carlos Drummond de Andrade (Brazil)
2/17 Christopher Okigbo (Nigeria)
2/21 Tadeusz Rozewicz (Poland)
3/05 Mahmoud Darwish (Palestine)
3/11 Gyorgy Petri (Hungary)
3/20 Claribel Alegria (Nicaragua)
6/04 Shuntaro Tanikawa (Japan)
6/14 Nijole Miliauskaite (Lithuania)

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

 

Er, Okay

All right -- Jackdaw's Nest didn't make it back in May, mainly because I got talked into continuing NaPoWriMo into May, and the results can be seen over at The Compost Heap. But Jackdaw's will be back in June. Absolutely. Definitely. Unquestionably.

Monday, May 01, 2006

 

Return of The Jackdaw's Nest

Well, sort of. NaPoWriMo has ended for this year, and I'm pooped -- too pooped to post a new entry here on May Day. So, for the moment, I'm going to post a link to an essay of mine that's just come out: "Marin Sorescu's Poetry: Some Observations" in the new issue of Avatar Review. It's much more detailed than the earlier post I did here on Sorescu and I hope will pass muster until I can begin making new entries in a couple of days.

And as a bonus, my favoite May Day poem and one of the finest short lyrics in English:

Corinna's Going A-Maying


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