This from a fine, poetry-rich article by Stefany Anne Golberg over at The Smart Set:
Some people focus on the passing Old Year rather than the New — English people, for instance, who are nostalgic by nature, as opposed to, say, American people, who do not enjoy the past as much because they have got so little of it, and erase what they do have as soon as they can.
I like this kind of pondering, especially when it comes with a sampler of delicious poems by Kobayashi Issa, Sylvia Plath, and Alfred Tennyson (thankfully, Golberg leaves the “Lord” out of it). Enjoy!
Mark W. McGinnis’s painting based on this haiku by Kobayashi Issa (tr. David G. Lanoue): a red berry |
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Speaking of Issa, over at Haiku Guy you’ll find some luscious paintings by Mark W. McGinnis, all based on Issa’s work as translated by David G. Lanoue (Haiku Guy himself), who is surely the premier translator of Issa.
Joseph,<br /><br />thanks for plugging the Eastern community (artists and poets). They get so little attention in most places.