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Wednesday, 15 August 2007
Charles Simic, the newly named U.S. Poet Laureate, knows his way around the short poem. A native of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Simic emigrated with his family to the U.S. while in his teens. Growing up in Europe during WWII, war and its consequences, as well as language, are never far from his concerns. From his collection Jackstraws:
Mother Tongue
In a previous posting, I commented on the lack of recent war poems coming into Lilliput considering that the Iraq War has now gone on longer than WWII. Simic, of course, remembers (from Hotel Insomnia):
One of the hallmarks of Simic's poetry is a subtle weaving of the surreal in the real; in the following example from Return to a Place Lit by a Glass of Milk, it leads to transcendence:
Returning to our twice weekly or so tour of past issues of Lilliput Review, we have the following little numbers by the inimitable Albert Huffstickler from issue #111 (July 2000):
I have measured my solitude on the scale of my being and come up with a formula for converting ashes into sunlight.
Posted by donw714 at 07:30 EDT
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Updated: Wednesday, 15 August 2007 11:51 EDT Saturday, 11 August 2007
Among the finest "classic" short poems in the English language is the following by Ezra Pound. Showing the influence of one of the initial waves of Eastern forms on Western poetry, this is a poem that continues to resonate for the today's readers precisely because it captures that timeless Eastern quality that has nothing to do with style:
For cogent, in depth analysis of this little gem, check out Mark Doty's talk, which may be found at http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19705 on the poets.org website. Though analysis in it's many ugly forms leaves me cold, this will keep you thinking. Meanwhile, in the ongoing stroll through past issues of Lilliput, three poems from issue #110 (April 2000):
THE LIBRARIAN ASKED CAN YOU WAIT FOR THAT BOOK ON FIFTH CENTURY BUDDHIST STATUARY
Posted by donw714 at 10:40 EDT
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Updated: Saturday, 11 August 2007 11:18 EDT Wednesday, 8 August 2007
5:45 am here in Pittsburgh and it is 79° and as damp as a frog's butt on a lightly submerged lily pad. Ah, the joys of August in the "big" city. Searching for some relief, let's turn to the master poet, Issa, after one of whose poems this blog is named. From the "Modest Proposal Chapbook" of Issa's work, Dusk Lingers, the following:
Now that's much better, isn't it. Well, looking for a bit more relief, there are the following little poems from Lillput Review #109 (April 2000) that remind us of the virtues of dampness as well as cooling relief:
in the darkness beginning to fade-- snow that just sticks
Posted by donw714 at 06:49 EDT
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Updated: Wednesday, 8 August 2007 11:35 EDT Saturday, 4 August 2007
As pointed out in this morning's Writer's Almanac, today is the birthday of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Since no poem was provided, I thought I'd correct that here with one of his most famous short works:
I always felt that the song "Conquistador" by Keith Reid was a homage to Shelley's poem, so here it is in tandem:
Conquistador Conquistador -- your stallion stands in need of company
Today's Lillie selection is from issue #108, a broadside entitled Selected Wu Songs by Linda Joan Zeiser. Linda has been a contributor to Lilliput for many years and is a loving, sensual poet. Here are two of her beautiful wu songs:
Posted by donw714 at 07:17 EDT
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Updated: Saturday, 4 August 2007 07:50 EDT Monday, 30 July 2007
Today, the first batch of new issues goes out in the mail. It takes nearly a month to get all the issues out, as there is much mail that needs attention. The new issues are #'s 157 & 158. 157 is a standard anthology issue and #158 is a broadside by Mark Hartenbach, entitled Butterfly, Corkboard. In addition to the new issues, there is a brand new chapbook by Gary Hotham in the "Modest Proposal Chapbook" series, entitled Missed Appointment. What follows is a taste of each. From #158, a poem by Yosano Akiko, translated by Dennis Maloney. For details on her life and career, click here for an informative Wikipedia article.
#374 Lying with my lover, From the bed I see Through the curtain Across the Milky Way the parting of the Weaver and the Oxherder stars!
From the broadside Butterfly, Corkboard, issue #158:
Gary Hotham is one of our finest contemporary haiku poets. From his new chapbook, Missed Appointment, the following poem :
Posted by donw714 at 06:32 EDT
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Updated: Tuesday, 31 July 2007 09:20 EDT Friday, 27 July 2007
I've always felt attracted to the work of Gary Snyder, particularly his subject matter and philosophy, but I've never really connected with him in a big way. While reading some of the nature work of Mary Oliver, I found in a pile of poetry books a small chapbook of Snyder's work, entitled Songs for Gaia. This set of poems was later reprinted in Axe Handles, under the slightly different title of "Little Songs for Gaia." Once again, I didn't quite connect with the work, except this opening poem of the sequence:
From the Lilliput archive, #107, two short poems:
December Dawn The sun comes up, reining a bleak wind,
Love is never enough.
Love is all there is.
Thursday, 26 July 2007
One of the anomalies of this war that has now gone on longer than WW II is that, though the majority of opinion is against it, there has been very little by way of protest. In addition, the press has ignored this issue and the reason why and so the war drags on. The reason is simple: there is no draft. The people in the streets in the past were those whose skin was on the line or those related in someway to them. Now the people who are putting their life on the line volunteered to do so. Does that make it any less heinous or, in some perversity of logic, right? No. So, too, there are, it seems, very few war poems. At Lilliput, I see virtually none. Does it bother me? Yes. Does life go on? Sure. For us, the privileged, the protected. For lack of other fodder, here's a poem by Wilfred Owen, with an outcome no less biblical for its divergence:
And from the Lilliput archive, issue # 106, September 1999, before the war:
Sunday, 22 July 2007
You will be reading a lot of the work of Albert Huffstickler in coming postings - before he died in 2002, Huff had become my favorite "unknown" poet of the small press and remains so 5 years later. Huff simply cut to the heart of things and in the longer form especially was wrenchingly lyrical. Though I believe he was being overly generous, he once told me he learned to master the short poem working on things to send to Lilliput. He certainly mastered the resonance I look for in short works. A homepage of his work and tributes to him may be found by clicking the "Small Press Links" in the right hand column of this page. There are some fine poems to be found there. From LR #105, here's one from Huff and a poem by another premier poet who is gone, Cid Corman:
Saturday, 21 July 2007
This morning's Writer's Almanac features a poem by Percy Shelley well worth repeating:
Lilliput Review #104 was a broadside issue by the poet John Elsberg, entitled "Small Exchange." Here is a little gem from that ten poem collection:
Friday, 20 July 2007
Generally, I plan to be posting a new entry once a week, more frequently when time allows. Currently, I'm reading a recent translation of Baudelaire's Flowers of Evil, Verse by Adelaide Crapsey and a selection of the art and poetry of d.a.levy entitled The Buddhist Third Class Junkmail Oracle. I first ran across the work of Adelaide Crapsey in one of those inexpensive anthologies of poetry produced by Dover Publications entitled Imagist Poetry. I have since discovered that she was the inventor of the cinquain, a form I often see in poems sent to Lilliput. The Imagist movement was greatly influenced by one of the first waves of interest in all things Eastern in the West, and the cinquain as a form owes much to the East in its striking imagery and precise condensation. Though not a cinquain, the following is my favorite poem by Adelaide.
From Lilliput #103, April 1999, two poems:
Poetry is that conversation we could not otherwise have had.
Thursday, 19 July 2007
If you want to know what the ugly underbelly of the 60's was truly like during this 40th anniversary celebration of "the Summer of Love," check out d.a.levy and the mimeograph revolution, edited by Larry Smith and Ingrid Swanberg. The city of Cleveland's betrayal of its would-be poetic savior, d.a.levy, makes Peter's denials of Christ in the garden look like small potatoes, indeed. A compilation of biographical articles, interviews and analysis, along with a generous selections of the poetry, collages and concrete work of levy, this volume is one of the saddest, most gut-skewering stories ever to be told in the small press (that, god only knows, has had more than its fair share). For more info on saint levy, check out the "Small Press Links" in the right hand column of this page. I've always believed that wisdom can come in small packages as well as large. From Lilliput Review #102, January 1999, the following:
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
Today's poems open up issue #101, originally published in January 1999. They speak to some larger issues ...
Alpha Centauri Light years separate us now, Once horse and human!
Posted by donw714 at 16:11 EDT
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Updated: Monday, 30 July 2007 13:02 EDT Tuesday, 17 July 2007
Welcome to the new Lilliput Review blog, Beneath Cherry Blossoms. I will regularly be posting poems from past issues to highlight what goes on in Lilliput and letting folks know what's new and what's forthcoming. Right now, issues #157 and #158 are in the final stages of preparation and will be mailed out to subscribers during the month of August. In addition, #17 in the Modest Proposal Chapbook series, Missed Appointment by Gary Hotham, will be published next month. More info will be forthcoming. From issue #100, a broadside featuring the work of the late poet Cid Corman, the following poem:
Beneath cherry blossoms, - Issa
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