Poetry Reading

October is my favorite month of the year.  And this year October began auspiciously with me doing a poetry reading on October 1^st.  I read from Hiking the Quatrain Range; my collection of quatrains in various forms.  I read from two groupings.  The first group was based on the Chinese quatrain tradition of the seven-syllable line.  The second group I read from was Englynion based on the Welsh tradition of quatrain poetry.

It was a good audience; attentive and appreciative.  One person asked about my use of rhyme.  This was after I had read a sequence of quatrains based on the Chinese tradition where the standard rhyme scheme is A-B-C-B.  I explained that traditional Chinese poetry is rhymed syllabic verse.  I commented that most westerners are not aware of this because translations of traditional Chinese verse rarely map the formal characteristics of Chinese poetry onto their English translations.  Furthermore, until very recently, in their introductions they fail to inform readers of these formal characteristics.  It took me a long time to uncover these formal characteristics, and even more time to see their potential for English language poetry. 

There are exceptions to this general observation.  Red Pine does attempt to transmit some of the formal characteristics of traditional Chinese poetry.   Here is an example from Red Pine’s translation The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain:

298

Buddhist monks don’t keep their precepts

Taoist priests don’t take their pills

Count the sages who have lived

All are at the foot of hills

(Page 251)

Here Red Pine has retained the standard rhyme-scheme (pills/hills) in the English translation.  In addition, he has retained a basic line count; in this case it is 8-8-7-7.  The original consists of 5 count lines, but there is a basic similarity in the translation; when reading the translation there is a steady pulse like in the original. 

It is very difficult to translate the formal characteristics of Chinese poetry into English; I get that.  But there is a heritage of English translators who do not even try to build this formal bridge.  Because of this many westerners have the impression that traditional Chinese verse is close to modern free verse and that is a misguided impression.

Not many western poets have attempted to map the formal characteristics of traditional Chinese poetry onto the English language.  Robin Skelton is one.  I am one.  I am unaware of others, but I suspect that they exist.

For both Skelton and myself attempting to transmit a poetic form from one language to another is a rewarding challenge.  For me it feels like connecting, as best I can, with another culture.  It broadens my understanding of how different people have understood poetry and opens new possibilities for my own creative expression.

It was a rewarding evening.  And people bought lots of books; always a plus.

Book Launch: Hiking the Quatrain Range

Hiking the Quatrain Range

Greetings:

Today is Syllabic Quatrain Day.  I picked April 4, which numerically is 4/4, to give a nod of thanks to all the traditions of syllabic quatrain scattered throughout the world.  It also seemed to me an auspicious day to launch my newest collection: Hiking the Quatrain Range.

Hiking contains fourteen collections of my quatrains.  All the collections take a syllabic approach.  My procedure is to compose each quatrain as a separate four-line poem, and then gather them into sequences.  These sequences have either a common theme or share a common syllabic shape, or both.

“First Day Poems, Parts 1 and 2” are quatrains rooted in my Quaker Faith and Practice.  Part 1 contains 5-count (five syllables per line) quatrains.  Part 2 contains seven-count quatrains.

“Clear Skies” are quatrains with 2-count lines (two-syllables per line).

“Fall Leaves Fall” contains 3-count quatrains.

“After the Rain” contains 4-count quatrains.

“At the Café” and “Quince” are fairly long sequences of 5-count quatrains.

“Serenity” is a sequence of 6-count quatrains.

“The Gift” and “Winter Dawn” are long sequences devoted to the 7-count quatrain.

“Englynion: Books I & II” are devoted to two Welsh forms; Englyn Unodl Union and Englyn Cyrch.  Most are Engyln Unodl Union.

“Agitations” are quatrains of various types on the theme of political or social commentary.

“Close Encounter” closes the collection with 8-count quatrains.

The Quatrain is found throughout the world in many cultures.  My approach was most strongly influenced by the Chinese tradition of quatrain poetry.  Other influences were the Welsh tradition and, most recently, the minimalist poetry of Samuel Menashe.  There is something very attractive about the quatrain which seems to resonate with people everywhere.

It took me a long time to put this collection together.  I wrote, rewrote, and rewrote again the sequences, trying to get the placements just right.  But it was an enjoyable process and going over the quatrains showed me how flexible and varied the parameters of the form are.  It also increased my appreciation for those poets who have focused on this form and bequeathed us such a rich heritage of examples to emulate.  And finally, going over these poems confirmed my feeling that a syllabic approach to quatrains in English is efficacious and rewarding.

Hiking the Quatrain Range

$14.95

250 pages

ISBN: 9781500763657

Available from Amazon and, in a few weeks, from your local bookstore.

Duskscape

A cold wind as the dusk starts to gather
The azure day departs,
A meaning darkness imparts
Found within our silent hearts

Untitled

Where the river meets the sea at land's end
Once again I feel free
As strong waves of memory
Drift into eternity

War Mongers

When they decided to destroy Iraq
They attacked with great joy,
Like children playing with toys,
They have no heart, just a void

Untitled

The summer morning heat and a clear sky,
Starlings fly, I retreat
To a dream that's incomplete --
Old age makes me obsolete

Late Summer

In the month of August the first leaves fall
From tall trees to the dust
Touched by the color of rust,
Sunset dims the day to dusk

With Friends

Mondy morning pancakes at the cafe,
Good friends stay for the sake
Of conversing's give and take;
Refreshing, like a cool lake

Transition

The rising of the sun in mid-July,
The sky glows, the night's done,
Messages from dreams are shunned
The day's chores have just begun

The House with the Broken Windows

On the dusty table leaves from a birch
As I search I cradle
Sounds from scenes I am able
To recall, like a fable

On a Summer Evening

The sound of a guitar in the warm night
The delight of the stars
So bright they seem close, not far,
A balm for our inner scars

Duskscape

The Russian River flows into the sea,
I see the sunset close
One more day of common woes
Gold leaves fall on a red rose

Spacious

In the open grotto of emptiness
(A vastness, a hollow)
Crossing the sky a swallow
Casts a fast moving shadow

Vocabulary

In summer heat the woodland creek runs dry;
Sometimes I try to speak
But the right words that I seek
Are like dust that was concrete

Nightscape

Oaks and boulders scattered across the field,
The clouds conceal gathered
Stars, galaxies unnumbered --
Friends I can't quite remember

On Enoch

When Enoch walked with God as the sun rose
And the night closed, they trod
As the wind made the trees nod
Creatures ev'rywhere were awed

Healing Words

Contemplating a Psalm before the dawn,
In the long hours of calm,
Before the noise of dot-com,
Is to the soul a sweet balm.

Walk Before Dawn

The full moon has not gone down when I start,
I depart and the ground
Looks like silver, like a crown
Of starlight -- silence, no sound.

On Old Age

The stream flows past the snow-covered boulders,
I am older and slow;
The caw of a distant crow
Like a lantern's fading glow

What I've Learned at My Hermitage

Steadily the traffic flows down the street --
On retreat hermits know
The pace of the season's flow,
Even mountains come and go.