酷我-北美枫

[anna]

I got your book from my teacher
who got it from garage sale.
One or two dollars. He couldn’t recall.
He gave it to me and said,
"Make good use of it.”

I turned its faded pages,
searching for the youthful poet,
but found an anguished soul
mourning for his father.

It rained a lot in the City.
Love and Life mixed with cries,
a dedication “For Donna, again”
lingered among pages.

I started to wonder
someday when my book lies
in an unknown hand,
what I could bring to him.
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[[星子安娜]]

I got your book from my teacher
who got it from garage sale.
One or two dollars. He couldn’t recall.
He gave it to me and said,
"Make good use of it.”

I turned its faded pages,
searching for the youthful poet,
but found an anguished soul
mourning for his father.

It rained a lot in the City.
Love and Life mixed with cries,
a dedication “For Donna, again”
lingered among pages.

I started to wonder
someday when my book lies
in an unknown hand,
what I could bring to him.
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[非马]

I like it.

[[FFFFFF]]

I like it.

[anna]

Thank you 非马.
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[[星子安娜]]

Thank you 非马.
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[anna]

one of your most successful poems---clear and quietly intent.

there was no confusion in my mind about the poem referenced in the title; those 150 plus lines have very little in common with your short poem posted here:

but in the city
in which I love you,
no one comes, no one
meets me in the brick clefts;
in the wedged dark,

no finger touches me secretly, no mouth
tastes my flawless salt,
no one wakens the honey in the cells, finds the humming
in the ribs, the rich business in the recesses;
hulls clogged, I continue laden, translated

by exhaustion...Li-Young Lee

however, the form the title dedication takes is more like this:

After Reading a Poem by Li Po...Charles Wright


or

Upon First Looking Into Chapman's Homer...John Keats


does your poem need the opening lines that merely establish provenance of a book? probably not:

I got your book from my teacher
who got it from a garage sale.
One or two dollars. He couldn’t recall.
He gave it to me and said,
"Make good use of it.

however, the lines fit nicely with the speaking voice maintained throughout the poem and also establish the special nature of the book to the narrator.

the final 12 lines provide our lit with a kick:


I turned its faded pages,
searching for the youthful poet,
but found an anguished soul
mourning for his father.

It rained a lot in the City.
Love and Life mixed with cries,
a dedication “For Donna, again”
lingered among pages.

I started to wonder
someday when my book lies
in an unknown hand,
what I could bring to him.


i like very much that the narrator gives me a reaction---announces an insecurity, exposes a flaw:


I started to wonder
someday when my book lies
in an unknown hand,
what I could bring to him.


a sensitive and modest thought in perfect step with the mood and quiet intimacy of the poem.

however, this line seemed wrong for the poem---much too romantic and divorced from reality:


Love and Life mixed with cries,


Cha---published in English from Hong Kong--- is doing a China edition---submit by May 15 for June publication. who better to be included in that edition than last year's Pushcart nominee?



this was a poem in Cha by Eddie Tay that i liked very much. he weaves from the personal to the political:



White pages peel
from a notepad, smooth fingers,
yours, rustling these leaves of my book –
you know how much I love,
how much time I spend
on these pages.




the political:


These words emerge
like the two of us,

like future chapters of Hong Kong,
its ferries at Victoria harbour
waiting to happen.

Or stanzas of Singapoere
with the Merlion poised,
awaiting the tip of a future pen.


he also finds beautiful images to transport his poetic intent:



Such a thick forest of words
we’re passing through –
is it possible to read from cover to cover?



Finally in the last stanza personal and public worlds blend together one more time:

The leaves are trembling in these hands,
waiting for a city to happen.



your tribute to Li-Young Lee is a very nice poem.


bernie
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[[星子安娜]]

one of your most successful poems---clear and quietly intent.

there was no confusion in my mind about the poem referenced in the title; those 150 plus lines have very little in common with your short poem posted here:

but in the city
in which I love you,
no one comes, no one
meets me in the brick clefts;
in the wedged dark,

no finger touches me secretly, no mouth
tastes my flawless salt,
no one wakens the honey in the cells, finds the humming
in the ribs, the rich business in the recesses;
hulls clogged, I continue laden, translated

by exhaustion...Li-Young Lee

however, the form the title dedication takes is more like this:

After Reading a Poem by Li Po...Charles Wright


or

Upon First Looking Into Chapman's Homer...John Keats


does your poem need the opening lines that merely establish provenance of a book? probably not:

I got your book from my teacher
who got it from a garage sale.
One or two dollars. He couldn’t recall.
He gave it to me and said,
"Make good use of it.

however, the lines fit nicely with the speaking voice maintained throughout the poem and also establish the special nature of the book to the narrator.

the final 12 lines provide our lit with a kick:


I turned its faded pages,
searching for the youthful poet,
but found an anguished soul
mourning for his father.

It rained a lot in the City.
Love and Life mixed with cries,
a dedication “For Donna, again”
lingered among pages.

I started to wonder
someday when my book lies
in an unknown hand,
what I could bring to him.


i like very much that the narrator gives me a reaction---announces an insecurity, exposes a flaw:


I started to wonder
someday when my book lies
in an unknown hand,
what I could bring to him.


a sensitive and modest thought in perfect step with the mood and quiet intimacy of the poem.

however, this line seemed wrong for the poem---much too romantic and divorced from reality:


Love and Life mixed with cries,


Cha---published in English from Hong Kong--- is doing a China edition---submit by May 15 for June publication. who better to be included in that edition than last year's Pushcart nominee?



this was a poem in Cha by Eddie Tay that i liked very much. he weaves from the personal to the political:



White pages peel
from a notepad, smooth fingers,
yours, rustling these leaves of my book –
you know how much I love,
how much time I spend
on these pages.




the political:


These words emerge
like the two of us,

like future chapters of Hong Kong,
its ferries at Victoria harbour
waiting to happen.

Or stanzas of Singapoere
with the Merlion poised,
awaiting the tip of a future pen.


he also finds beautiful images to transport his poetic intent:



Such a thick forest of words
we’re passing through –
is it possible to read from cover to cover?



Finally in the last stanza personal and public worlds blend together one more time:

The leaves are trembling in these hands,
waiting for a city to happen.



your tribute to Li-Young Lee is a very nice poem.


bernie
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com