Culture

The allegory of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne isn't flawless; yet it is, in places, good. The A itself does signify adultery, able, and angel, as well as in the hornbook phrase, "in Adam's fall, we sinnéd all." I also think it represents America, a nation married to the...

  A miracle, how else to say it then? At first, but ground, absolutely nothing there, A river meandering by, some cattle, gorse, Nettle and herbs whose use proved no sure cure. Then, as if by magic, he stood majestic, by – Conjured from out thin air his being gainsaid...

  The Glass Bottle Tree When the wind blows through, the tree shakes. The glass bottles tip their sunlight Over a stiff hearth of twilight; Sealing its glow as night awakes. Two silhouettes do gives and takes In drums of waltz down blue moonlight. When the wind blows through, the...

Poems from the Hungarian Poetry Reading 9/19/2013   Twenty Years Later By János Vajda (1827–1897) / Translation by Zsuzsanna Ozsváth and Frederick Turner Like snow on Mont Blanc's distant crest, That neither sun nor wind may harm, My unvexed heart now lies at rest, Inflamed by no new passion's charm....

Imagine that you were lost in a wilderness and had to find your way out. Fortunately, you have with you a number of things, or tools if you will. In the first instance you have a kitbag, which is itself useful. Within it are various articles: a bottle of water,...

Seasong I heard the wreathéd coral horn That Triton blew, and less forlorn Did suddenly I feel: I heard the sirensong afar I launched a ship and tracked a star How soon my heart did heal! I saw the shade of Hy Brasil, And what delight within me filled To...

  Our ends and deaths sit with us all the time defining executioners and crime; and though we try to keep them from our door, many killings lie within the Law— are even processed as a human chore. Killing resonates a moral negative, but it’s a soldier’s job to take...

Coastal Shingle There, totem-stacked in paratactic charm, The words cascade: Hay.Shavings.Piglets.Straw. I had not sought a sign from Salt Marsh Farm, But since this was the only one I saw, I turned from what had been my course till then, Meaning, while sun was shining still that day, To give...

Zhen-Shan-Ren: “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance,” the three main principles of Falun Dafa Zhen-Shan-Ren, Zhen-Shan-Ren… Hear the Truth that sounds like “Zhen,” Rhythm that can vanquish lies, Self-deceptions vaporize: Zhen-Shan-Ren, Zhen-Shan-Ren… Hear Compassion for all men That can make our hearts ascend, Make the Good a splendid trend: Zhen-Shan-Ren, Zhen-Shan-Ren… Hear Forbearance in the...

Updated January 10, 2020 Ascending the Phoenix Terrace in Jinling by Li Bai (701-762) Here phoenix roamed four hundred years ago, A sign of the enchantment that once thrived; How empty now, where no more feathers flow, A lonely river is all that’s survived. Lush garden of the grand Wu...

  Cynthia Moon Go drag your white skull before blind seas That tumble dazed to your mono-eyed magic Go string the treadmill tides around the poles And make all starry lovers pale and sick Go tell Neptune when the night is through Charm him too with your waxing and waning...

Waiting, Sadly For Keats I'm waiting, sadly, for a guest to come: What hour defeats me and how I don't know. But come he will, like some ghost to his own, And when he knocks I'll answer him and go. The door will open, and the warm air out, Such...

The Fallen Vestige The fallen vestige of her foliate time: Browned leaves beneath; coarse needles of old pine Once green and pungent; when her nests in spring With peeping chicks, and swaying boughs, would sing. So splendors fade, as does the daily light; Of seed and growth and birth and...

  Ode to Alexander They say he cried, the great king, when He marched upon his journey's end. To live but once, and yet to know There's so much further man could go. I'm sure twas no one could console That mighty, strong, and broken soul. When worlds and worlds...

  This Autumn Evening These words of Bashō I cannot claim as my own, but they appear again and again in poems I try to write this autumn evening. Three simple words I am unable to match, unable to live up to with my own words this autumn evening. As...

I dreamed again last night, of waters, raging, That break in waves across the Thunersee, Where mountains coldly climb, fir-clad and aging; Impervious to the rain against the scree; Of ramparts there that guard a fort forgotten, With walls where torches burned and moss now grows Where rooks now wrest...

If you want your children to be brilliant, tell them fairy tales. If you want them to be very brilliant, tell them even more fairy tales. -Albert Einstein Oh, the magic of Once upon a Time, an entryway to a world undiscovered, a place where children’s dreams are recovered of...

  Waiting for Dawn atop Butterfly Mountain A dilapidated lepidopteran dying atop The Mountain of Butterflies holds out her wings to the darkness — wings as thin as the mist that swirls beneath monsoonal skies — and pictures the tea farm women, who often glow like painted sawtooths dotting the...

  Unbroken If I should break myself today Unchanged from every burden bare Determined unafraid to say That I shall find the strength to wear Whatever fortune great or small My maker has bestowed on me. By chance wherever I may fall I forge alone my destiny. Then I may...

  The Philadelphia Pepper Pot Legend This day in 1777, American soldiers, at Valley Forge, camped. By hunger and winter's breath, spirits were damped. Paying a toll for the new revolution, Frostbitten, starving, they needed a boost, So Christopher Ludwick prepared a rich meal. Directed by Washington, he cooked to...

  Instruction The tales of Ovid are a theme that suits The Prince, but will not do for your repute. Avoid lust.  Clients of the better kind Desire the tales that beautify the mind. You may display the human flesh with taste Discreetly in the hands and face.  Be chaste:...

Imprisonment, torture, pathetic wrong - begat from  a people of age-old culture, wit, classic beauty, artistry and song: practices akin to hyena,  vulture, or other sadistic depravity - such is the state of Red China today. Subject to degrading atrocity, Falun Gong, spiritual bouquet, bright light of hope for millions...

  Greeks, Bearing Gifts The coils of wood cascade as worn blades glide from cedar lengths, rough-hewn deformed and coarse, while nearby, ships await a final tide and summer’s winds chase sand among the gorse. As carpenters, alone among the force of soldiers, stay and toil their keen minds on...

  Ballet Lesson The flow has ebbed and left a tidal pool. A little tern wades in with webbed feet So delicate they wobble in the cool But keep the balance of this athlete. She moves her slender body, takes the stance Of ballerina on the sandy floor, Performs her...

  Calpurnia’s Paranoia Beware the Ides of March, she said— if you ignore the signs, you’re dead. But Caesar did not share her dread and shuffled off to work instead. Once on the Senate floor he knew Calpurnia’s portent would prove true, for there among that motley crew was his...

  Bounty When apples hang untouched on branches’ bottom, Or beans lie grounded, neither grown nor dead, Or bulbs down-nestle into earth of autumn, Then let them lie! Don’t hurry them ahead. Or when it’s only six o’clock at night Do not despair that no one’s at the door: Your...

  The pendulum o' th' old grandfather clock goes back and forth, and forth and back, and back and forth, and forth and back, again, again, again. It stays on track, and oscillates both east and west, or south and north, depending which way its positioned in the room. It...

  You came to life from dreams and thoughts and whispers. You were told and you were – forever true. The centuries have left you young and graceful. I come to ask you: please, let me be you! The one who thought you gave your words and accents. Sheltered by...

  I look upon how much people suffer Wishing Bian Que and Hua Tuo* were now here Predestiny links us now and forever To fulfill my wish: a medical career   *Bian Que and Hua Tuo: Ancient Chinese medical masters. 悬壶了愿 人间疾苦何多 扁鹊华佗难現 亘古缘牵末劫 悬壶济世了愿 Dr. Rong was born into...

A Sonnet Saluting Lady Snow Snow is a rainfall in frozen repose; Rainbow rich in hues, delicate its shape After lightning strikes; its thunder echoes. There is still tension in each crystal flake. Snow rings down, a chintzy, folding curtain, On worlds still steeped in a dark translucence. It makes...

“He strove to resuscitate the dead art/Of poetry; to maintain "the sublime"/In the old sense. Wrong from the start  …” –Ezra Pound, “Hugh Selwyn Mauberly” “Adolf Hitler was a Jeanne d'Arc, a saint.” –Also Ezra Pound An immigrant Jew, an old woman, her tattoo peeking from under a billowed sleeve,...

I Pray It’s Not Too Late I’ve walked in the eye of a hurricane Safe between its walls of rain And when the winds swept in again I stood alone in awe I’ve beheld forever in the sea Her gentle waves that called to me The world beneath so wild...

Faery Dust Anarchy With winds awhistling through the trees and air sprites dancing on the breeze, you'll hear the pipes from Éirinn’s lands - mayhap a leprechaun might sneeze at swirling faery dust - like bees that swarm in clouds of floating strands. Minutest drops of molten gold soon fill the air...

From Dante, to Beatrice In your father’s garden we first met, a pair in exile, two children playing without a care, in our shared exile. You were eight, I, nine, you in crimson and I blind to all else but the fall of your fair hair, from my exile. For...

He's placed dramatically center stage by Benjamin West—Benjamin Franklin. His gray hair flies. He's getting on in age. Electricity coming from lightning! He's dressed in dark clothes with a white tied tie. His brow is furrowed and his face is lit. His red cape sweeps up into windy sky. A...

Bereft of the poetry of his soul The knight took refuge in the house of death Into darkness he went with his mind crushed Wandering lust gone and with his own trust. The enchanter gone And disenchantment entered And the land of La Mancha Slowly turned to dust & cinders....

Written in May 2010 / Revised April 2020 Trumpets blast and Heaven opens, light shoots through, Gods of all the Kingdoms smile now anew, Legions of celestial soldiers stand, salute, Drumbeats sound between the flourishes of flute, Cherubs and celestial maidens spread their flowers, Time himself relaxes for these joyous...

  I This is the month, and this the happy morn, Wherein the Son of Heaven’s eternal King, Of wedded maid and Virgin Mother born, Our great redemption from above did bring; For so the holy sages once did sing, That he our deadly forfeit should release, And with his...

Ballade for Trains They are no more, the whistles’ longing wails, Retreating like a stately, mournful queen. Where are the smokestacks that left fading trails, The blackened engine with its oiled sheen, Imposing in its tons, unfazed, serene, The ties in creosote, the polished rails? I hear their bell, and...