Entropy

Entropy

Do you really believe
that I could not
with one wave of a word
defrost the cold glass
of your immensity
and show you on the other side
nothing?

[copyright EAC 09]

Exile On Main Street (In Memoriam Walter "Terry" Klein)

Exile On Main Street (In Memoriam Walter “Terry” Klein)


Shoryo ni
iza tsuredatan
nishi no sora*

[Hokuso]


In the midwest in winter
they spread their highways
with an ocean of salt.

In spring like clockwork
gray sidewalks exhale waiting
for the ferry to the Martha’s Vineyard
they have never seen.

He passes an elderly Japanese
striding easily with a soldier’s air.
Eyes meet. The slightest bow.

He too smells the sea.

[copyright EAC]
_____________________________________________________________________________________
N.B.: A short notice on the Chinese character 德 (Te/De), "Virtue", "Character", "Integrity", may be found at wikipedia below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_(Chinese)

A translation of the lines in Japanese above with an important note from Yoel Hoffman is available online below:

http://books.google.com/books?id=fF75Qvo-VckC&pg=PA191&lpg=PA191&dq=Hokuso+shoryo+ni&source=bl&ots=6T7p5BFWCv&sig=K7t9rVIQHULpLfdpI0sVf8jxZJo&hl=en&ei=otHOSuicDouMMZ2mvZQD&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=Hokuso%20shoryo%20ni&f=false

À bientôt, Terry, mon ami.

The Hylozoist

The Hylozoist

Does one atom of hydrogen give birth to another atom of hydrogen?

Do universes meet in cocktail lounges over shots of vodka and beer?

Does one thing lead to another until one of them asks, “My place or yours?”

Why aren’t there selfish nuclear reactors whose teleology is to go forth and multiply

until they cover the planet and dispense with humankind?

Are ants campaigning to be the next great apes, husbanding atomic aphids and milking them for electric power?

Is the moon in her barren milkiness protectress of earth from stinging meteors?

Is she Diana, chaste huntress of asteroids?

When worlds age do they retire to Mexico, learn a little Spanish,
and read the Aztec Gazette?

[copyright EAC]

Herbstspaziergang

Herbstspaziergang

It is not the point of a poem
to persuade an idle moment of September.

What time is it in your world?

There is simply no one here to tell you
there is another year on Mars
when the canals that are not canals
bloom with Martian mushrooms.

Because there is thinking have you thought?

Because there is love have you loved?

Because there is Spring does it mean there is no equator?

Trees wrap their arms warmly about themselves
discovering sunrise.

Eyes see deeper light in briefer days.

[copyright EAC]