October 15, 2008
Wednesday Poem
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"Colatteral damage is a shroud woven by some to cover the
corpse of thier morality so as not to sully their self-perception."
--A.P. Cruller
Brave World
Tony Hoagland
But what about the courageof the cancer cell
that breaks out from the crowd
it has belonged to all its life
..................................like a housewife erupting
from her line at the grocery store
because she just can't stand
the sameness anymore?
..................................What about the virus that arrives
in town like a traveler
from somewhere faraway
with suitcases in hand,
..................................who only wants a place
to stay, a chance to get ahead
in the land of opportunity,
but who smells bad,
..................................talks funny, and reproduces fast?
What about the microbe that
hurls its tiny boat straight
into the rushing metabolic tide,
..................................no less cunning and intrepid
than Odysseus; that gambles all
to found a city
on an unknown shore?
..................................What about their bill of rights,
their access to a full-scale,
first-class destiny?
their chance to realize
..................................maximum potential?-which, sure,
will come at the expense
of someone else, someone
who, from a certain point of view,
..................................is a secondary character,
whose weeping is almost
too far off to hear,
..................................a noise among the noises
coming from the shadows
of any brave new world.
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Posted by Jim Culleny at 08:14 AM | Permalink
Comments
I saw this poem on the New Yorker site this morning and remembered the one you posted a few weeks ago. Your thoughts?
What is with poets and persimmons these days?
Mu Ch’i’s Persimmons
by Gary Snyder October 20, 2008
There is no remedy for satisfying hunger other than a painted rice cake.
—Dōgen, November, 1242.
On a back wall down the hall
lit by a side glass door
is the scroll of Mu Ch’i’s great
sumi painting, “Persimmons”
The wind-weights hanging from the
axles hold it still.
The best in the world, I say,
of persimmons.
Perfect statement of emptiness
no other than form
the twig and the stalk still on,
the way they sell them in the
market even now.
The original’s in Kyoto at a
lovely Rinzai temple where they
show it once a year
this one’s a perfect copy from Benrido
I chose the mounting elements myself
with the advice of the mounter
I hang it every fall.
And now, to these overripe persimmons
from Mike and Barbara’s orchard.
Napkin in hand,
I bend over the sink
suck the sweet orange goop
that’s how I like it
gripping a little twig
those painted persimmons
sure cure hunger
Posted by: Shehla Anjum | Oct 15, 2008 12:02:21 PM
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