There is an interesting poem that immigrant families can relate to. To read the poem, visit here.
Category: Poetry
National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month in the U.S., so let’s learn about haiku, which is a traditional Japanese short poem form. Here’s an example by the haiku master Basho:
A haiku has three lines with five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, and five syllables in the third line. It also usually includes words that are connected to Nature and philosophy and has some sort of small surprise.
Since the original frog haiku is in Japanese, there are many ways to translate it. Here are 30 below:
The original Japanese:
古池
蛙飛び込む
水の音Furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto
An old pond —
Translated by Kenneth Rexroth
The sound
Of a diving frog.
Pond, there, still and old!
A frog has jumped from the shore.
The splash can be heard.Translated by Eli Siegel
old pond
Translated by Cid Corman
frog leaping
splash
The old pond,
Translated by Alan Watts
A frog jumps in:
Plop!
Breaking the silence
Translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa
Of an ancient pond,
A frog jumped into water —
A deep resonance.
The old pond
Translated by Allen Ginsberg
A frog jumped in,
Kerplunk!
Listen! a frog
Translated by Dorothy Britton
Jumping into the stillness
Of an ancient pond!
Old pond
Translated by Lucien Stryk
leap — splash
a frog.
The old pond —
Translated by Robert Hass
a frog jumps in,
sound of water.
At the ancient pond
Translated by Sam Hamill
a frog plunges into
the sound of water
ancient is the pond —
Translated by Tim Chilcott
suddenly a frog leaps — now!
the water echoes
pond
Translated by James Kirkup
frog
plop!
When I Am an Old Woman
Make the Sparkle Continue
Here’s a video of Liang Tung reading her poem “Life Is Art” at the Immigrant Poets of New York program. You can also read it below:
Life is Art
Liang Tung
Life is art
Don’t lock us inside
Let us go out
Life is art
New places
Have a fresh start
Life is art
Through time
Make it grow
Life is art
It can be attractive
Or dull, dull
Life is art
Keep progressing
Cheerful dreams come true
Life is art
It is created by you
And I
Life is art
Out of suffering
You feel appreciation
Life is art
Crafty hands
Make it shine
Life is art
Brighten yourself
And others
Life is art
Make the sparkle continue
Light precious life bright
Cheer Up Old Fellows!
Watch above and read below Pei Lin Yu’s poem from Immigrant Poets in New York:
Old Age
Pei Lin Yu
Time flies fast
From infancy to old age in a blink of an eye
Don’t cry about getting old
Don’t worry about unknown futures
Enjoy everyday of the rest of your life
Old age is called the golden age
Old age is the tree covered with colorful flowers
Old age is as beautiful as the sunset
Old age is full of knowledge and wisdom
Old age is the way to heaven
Cheer up
Cheer up old fellows!
Immigrant Poets in New York
Two More Summer Poems
From About.com Poetry:
I Know I Am But Summer to Your Heart
Edna St. Vincent Millary
I know I am but summer to your heart,
And not the full four seasons of the year;
And you must welcome from another part
Such noble moods as are not mine, my dear.
No gracious weight of golden fruits to sell
Have I, nor any wise and wintry thing;
And I have loved you all too long and well
To carry still the high sweet breast of spring.
Wherefore I say: O love, as summer goes,
I must be gone, steal forth with silent drums,
That you may hail anew the bird and rose
When I come back to you, as summer comes.
Else will you seek, at some not distant time,
Even your summer in another clime.
Back Yard
Carl Sandburg
Shine on, O moon of summer.
Shine to the leaves of grass, catalpa and oak,
All silver under your rain to-night.An Italian boy is sending songs to you to-night from an accordion.
A Polish boy is out with his best girl; they marry next month;
to-night they are throwing you kisses.An old man next door is dreaming over a sheen that sits in a
cherry tree in his back yard.The clocks say I must go—I stay here sitting on the back porch drinking
white thoughts you rain down.Shine on, O moon,
Shake out more and more silver changes.