Friday, February 25, 2011  We Came From the Breeze  I was
talking about poetry with Shanna the other day, and she said she
favored long narrative ballads, naming writers like Service,
Kipling, Tolkien, and some Frost.  But you can see in the poems
I've shown you, this driving, pounding beat, this rhythm that
underlays the words and carries it strongly, til it almost
echoes. That's why I got disillusioned with free verse. Sure,
once in a while you find one that still manages that rhythm, but
they're so far between, I just gave it up.  On the other hand,
as evidenced by the Bashō quotation up in the top corner, I
consider Eastern poetry a cornerstone of my poetic worldview;
haiku was the first form that really enthralled me, especially
for its connection to Zen Buddhism. When Buson says:  I go, you
stay; Two autumns.  The space in the poem is so vast, and with
time being measured in "autumns", you get the sense of his
melancholy without having to hear him say in so many words, "I'm
lonely. I miss you." You feel