Today's poem My first recording and uploading of reading the poem Earth Anthem by poet Abhay K to celebrate the 52nd Anniversary of Earth Day in 2022 . https://www.earthanthem.net/p/earth-anthem-by-abhay-k.html?m=1
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Today's poem One of my curiosities is mysticism. So I am lucky to find the poem ‘Dance Mania’ by Jonathan Aaron on my bookshelf. The free verse has a clarified narrative structure: a series of religious anecdotes in chronological order and famous stories following the achievements of the German physician and alchemist Paracelsus. I enjoy the former part describing apocryphal tales in 1027, 1227, and 1278 with wit (especially, the first tale in 1027 is funny). The latter part mainly relates to Paracelsus. I am quietly inspired by the conclusion starting from the line “Think of the strange, magnetic sleep” as a turn, conveying poetic syntax. E ven if Paracelsus’ work might include an uncertain, dubious part, everything is connected as one showing human history. The dance mania as the title is a clue for reading the poem. I read it and imagine both whirling dervish and dance with Buddhist chants of Jishū (時宗). Beyond eras and religions, the conclusion leads me to a sort of a universal...
Today's poem An independent bookshop POPOTAME (ポポタム http://popotame.net/ ) is awfully cute with a unique collection of books and zines with a little quirkiness. Yesterday I visited the bookshop at Mejiro, Toshima (near my childhood home!), then came across a South Korean charming zine entitled Gonggi . I was mesmerized by the elaborately crafted zine. Gonggi is a traditional Korean kid's game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAFS4AzBgzI The zine shows various playing scenes thereof with green and gold foil stamping on tea-green paper. Gonggi published by ADD TO CART, illustration & Design by 0.1, the object (South Korea) https://popotame.com/items/5fd9fb7bf0b1084bef91780c The bookshop has space for selling books and a gallery. Yesterday there was an exhibition of acrylic paintings by the painter MISSISSIPPI ( https://mississippi.mystrikingly.com/ ). Indeed, his actual paintings had power to move me. Some works were sold out (i.e., with red circle marks!). After seeing...
Today's poem Interview with poet Jennifer Wong Interview with Jennifer Wong by Hideko Sueoka (lincolnreview.org) Poems by Jennifer Wong (lincolnreview.org) 2013 年、詩人ジェニファー・ウォンとは、ロンドンで初めて会った。あの時、あの朗読会場に、アジア人は彼女と私ぐらいだったと記憶している。それから、 7 年余り。彼女の詩の創作への情熱は、昨年、一冊の詩集となって結実した。彼女の真摯な姿勢と寛容な性格に惹かれ、「いつかオフィシャルに『なぜ？』という問いを色々な点について投げかけてみたい」と思っていたことが実現し、とてもうれしい。 日本語と英語、それはコインの表と裏である。どちらが表で裏かは、時と場合による。モノリンガルからマルチリンガルの時代に移った今、あらためて、母語である日本語とどう向き合うか、英詩を書きながら考えさせられる。 母語が日本語である読者を無意識のうちに想定して日本語の文章を作る、この以前の前提が完全に壊れた。それでは、どちらを向いて日本語で書いていくか？－ こんな視座が生まれようとは、考えもしなかった。 また、「言葉とは何か？」という原点に回帰して考える機会が増えたことにも驚いている。
Today's poem Illinois as Carrie Etter's hometown is broad and dry, as compared with the narrow land and humidity in Japan. The collection The Weather in Normal consists of lyrical verse based on geographic and meteorological characteristics. The book begins with the sonnet 'Night Ode' having each couplet in which the afterglow of her far memory remains. Especially, Chapter II grabs me with poems full of murmurs in the mind suddenly appearing or sometimes disappearing. The poem 'Afterlife' richly uses space that can interrupt metrics and rhyming, also can produce both coherence and incoherence of syntax. With her father's groggy slumber, her haunted memories are emerged, like lost and found. Deeply echoed in my mind. At the same time, although the landscape is completely different, by reading the book, I recall a Japanese painter Shunso Hishida ( 菱田春草 )'s pictures with obscurity ( 朦朧体 ). Eldest by Carrie Etter (from the collection The Weather in Normal ...
Today's poem Jennifer Wong 's ( https://jenniferwong.co.uk/ ) poetry online course: https://kubrickpoetry.teachable.com/p/poetry-course This is Hong Kong-based Kubric poetry. Anybody can take her course all over the world. SPREAD THE WORD! Introduction of this course https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgnxmkEkTzs Her poems and translations: https://jenniferwong.co.uk/poemsandtranslation/