"The deepest core of life is poetry and symbol." - Dane Rudhyar
Category Archives: Poetry
“One Version of Events” by Wislawa Szymborska
“If we’d been allowed to choose, we’d probably have gone on forever. The bodies that were offered didn’t fit, and wore out horribly. The ways of sating hunger made us sick. We were repelled by blind heredity and the tyranny … Continue reading
The Tree of Life in the Vision of W. B. Yeats
One of the most beautiful poems ever written is “The Two Trees” by William Butler Yeats. The poet was a favourite of his beloved Maud Gonne, an Irish revolutionary and his muse. The visual richness of the poem is informed … Continue reading
Posted in Poetry
Tagged archetypes, hermeticism, Maud Gonne, poetry, symbolism, symbols, The Two Trees, Tree of Life, William Butler Yeats
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“Nocturne” by Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz, “Nocturne”, translated by Eliot Weinberger “Shadow, flickering shadow of voices. The black river drags its sunken marbles. How to speak of the assassinated air, of the orphaned words, how to speak of the dream? Shadow, flickering shadow of … Continue reading
“Alchemy” by Gillian Clarke
“All night the moon stares at the stream strumming its way over stones, stopping it dead in its dream; gazes at the field’s ghost where all the white night long no mouse, fox, hare has passed. Moon, witch, goddess, … Continue reading
“Happiness” by Louise Glück
Georgia O’Keeffe, “Abstraction White Rose” “A man and a woman lie on a white bed. It is morning. I think Soon they will waken. On the bedside table is a vase of lilies; sunlight pools in their throats. I watch … Continue reading
“Alchemy” by Jane Yeh
If it could be done, I’d do it In an instant. I’ve got the charts, The mortar and pestle, the fullest Array of flasks that side of Rome. My walls are papered with symbols, and the biggest Is gold. There’s … Continue reading
“Perfect Woman” by William Wordsworth
She was a phantom of delight When first she gleam’d upon my sight; A lovely apparition, sent To be a moment’s ornament; Her eyes as stars of twilight fair; Like twilight’s, too, her dusky hair; But all things else about her … Continue reading
Posted in Poetry, Uncategorized
Tagged "Perfect Woman", poem, poetry, William Wordsworth
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Two Poems by Yehuda Amichai
I. “A Man in His Life” “A man doesn’t have time in his life to have time for everything. He doesn’t have seasons enough to have a season for every purpose. Ecclesiastes was wrong about that. A man needs to love … Continue reading
“Desire” by Boleslaw Lesmian
“I’d like to have a hut in the wild forest density, Made of firewood and a spatial scarcity, Hanged high among old branch pinions, Over jaguar caves and snake canyons. There, on moss, swung with a mad storm, I’d like … Continue reading
Posted in Poetry, Uncategorized
Tagged Boleslaw Lesmian, desire, poetry, Polish poetry, symbolist poetry
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