Wednesday, 22 April 2009

Elsewhere

Wednesday, 22 April 2009 07:39
lnhammer: girl in yukata kissing a surprised boy on cheek - caption: "buh?" (kiss)
A late-night parking lot: The stir
  of rain slants through subdued elms, shoaled
sodium lamplight, and a parked car
  to the patched asphalt where roiled
  water, assembled, pooled, and rilled,
wanders downstream, leaving a few
  stray leaves behind on the windshield.
That’s how I miss you when you go.

Canyon: Baked rock. Cicadas chirr
  and tick and stop. On sandstone paled
by sun, a lizard with a stare
  pumps short push-ups over scald.
  Safe? So. It skinks down, through crack-held
thorn-scrub, to hunt ants. In the now,
  the age of glare-parched day is old.
That’s how I miss you when you go.

A busy downtown used bookstore/
  café: A patio table, railed
off from the sidewalk, waits for scour-
  ing by the bus-boy -- cups, congealed
  dregs, the remains of pastry. Held
by a sweating glass, a tip flaps through
  the breeze. The other tables are filled.
That’s how I miss you when you go.

  Dearest, you wondered how I hold
up when, in the course of business, you
  leave me with house empty and dulled.
That’s how. I miss you when you go.

—October 2002

---L.

About

Warning: contents contain line-breaks.

As language practice, I like to translate poetry. My current project is Chinese, with practice focused on Tang Dynasty poetry. Previously this was classical Japanese, most recently working through the Kokinshu anthology (archived here). Suggestions, corrections, and questions always welcome.

There's also original pomes in the journal archives.

April 2025

S M T W T F S
  12345
678910 1112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930   

Page Summary

Style Credit

Powered by Dreamwidth Studios
Page generated Tuesday, 1 July 2025 03:38

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags