come on and lay it down.
Aug. 30th, 2009 07:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
samatethecookieBecause I'm the nerd that I am, I decided to post some poetry I've been reading and enjoying in my classes lately. I'm in Lit 111: Poetry and Creative Writing, so it's been nothing but poems galore this past week and a half.
A Beautiful Girl Combs Her Hair
Written by Li Ho, translated by David Young
Awake at dawn
she's dreaming
by cool silk curtains
fragrance of spilling hair
half sandalwood, half aloes
windlass creaking at the well
singing jade
the lotus blossom wakes, refreshed
her mirror
two phoenixes
a pool of autumn light
standing on the ivory bed
loosening her hair
watching the mirror
one long coil, aromatic silk
a cloud down to the floor
drop the jade comb - no sound
delicate fingers
pushing the coils into place
color of raven feathers
shining blue-black stuff
the jewelled comb will hardly hold it
spring wind makes me restless
her slovenly beauty upsets me
eighteen and her hair's so thick
she wears herself out fixing it!
she's finished now
the whole arrangement in place
in a cloud-patterend skirt
she walks with even steps
a wild goose on the sand
turns away without a word
where is she off to?
down the steps to break the spray of
cherry blossoms
Love Poem
John Frederick Nims
My clumbsiest dear, whose hands shipwreck vases,
At whose quick touch all glasses chip and ring,
Whose palms are bulls in china, burrs in linen,
And have no cunning with any soft thing
Except all ill at ease fidgeting people:
The refugee uncertain at the door
You make at home; deftly you steady
The drunk clambering on his undulant floor.
Unpredictable dear, the taxi drivers' terror,
Shrinking from far headlights pale as a dime
Yet leaping before red apoplectic streetcars-
Misfit in any space. And never on time.
A wrench in clocks and the solar system. Only
With words and people and love you move at ease.
In traffic of wit expertly maneuver
And keep us, all devotion, at your knees.
Forgetting your coffee spreading on our flannel,
Your lipstick grinning on our coat,
So gaily in love's unbreakable heaven
Our souls on glory of split bourbon float.
Be with me darling early and late. Smash glasses-
I will study wry music for your sake.
For should your hands drop white and empty
All the toys of the world would break.
Poetry by...
Lorine Niedecker
I knew a clean man
but he was not for me.
Now I sew green aprons
over covered seats. He
wades the muddy water fishing,
falls in, dries his last pay-check
in the sun, smooths it out
in Leaves of Grass. He's
the one for me.
A Beautiful Girl Combs Her Hair
Written by Li Ho, translated by David Young
Awake at dawn
she's dreaming
by cool silk curtains
fragrance of spilling hair
half sandalwood, half aloes
windlass creaking at the well
singing jade
the lotus blossom wakes, refreshed
her mirror
two phoenixes
a pool of autumn light
standing on the ivory bed
loosening her hair
watching the mirror
one long coil, aromatic silk
a cloud down to the floor
drop the jade comb - no sound
delicate fingers
pushing the coils into place
color of raven feathers
shining blue-black stuff
the jewelled comb will hardly hold it
spring wind makes me restless
her slovenly beauty upsets me
eighteen and her hair's so thick
she wears herself out fixing it!
she's finished now
the whole arrangement in place
in a cloud-patterend skirt
she walks with even steps
a wild goose on the sand
turns away without a word
where is she off to?
down the steps to break the spray of
cherry blossoms
Love Poem
John Frederick Nims
My clumbsiest dear, whose hands shipwreck vases,
At whose quick touch all glasses chip and ring,
Whose palms are bulls in china, burrs in linen,
And have no cunning with any soft thing
Except all ill at ease fidgeting people:
The refugee uncertain at the door
You make at home; deftly you steady
The drunk clambering on his undulant floor.
Unpredictable dear, the taxi drivers' terror,
Shrinking from far headlights pale as a dime
Yet leaping before red apoplectic streetcars-
Misfit in any space. And never on time.
A wrench in clocks and the solar system. Only
With words and people and love you move at ease.
In traffic of wit expertly maneuver
And keep us, all devotion, at your knees.
Forgetting your coffee spreading on our flannel,
Your lipstick grinning on our coat,
So gaily in love's unbreakable heaven
Our souls on glory of split bourbon float.
Be with me darling early and late. Smash glasses-
I will study wry music for your sake.
For should your hands drop white and empty
All the toys of the world would break.
Poetry by...
Lorine Niedecker
I knew a clean man
but he was not for me.
Now I sew green aprons
over covered seats. He
wades the muddy water fishing,
falls in, dries his last pay-check
in the sun, smooths it out
in Leaves of Grass. He's
the one for me.
