"scorched by the sun's blueness"
Merwin, Tu Fu, Brodsky, Itō, Šalamun, Holiday
W.S. Merwin:
Tu Fu (tr. from Chinese by David Hinton):
Joseph Brodsky:
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Hiromi Itō (tr. from Japanese by Jeffrey Angles):
Tomaž Šalamun (tr. from Slovenian by Charles Simic):
Billie Holiday, “Trav’lin’ All Alone,” rec. 1937:
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I love Merwin's first line because of its explicit and implicit meaning provided by the enjambment.
Brodsky's first two stanzas reminded me of Goblin Market's rhythm. I love the last line in his poem.
Ito's poem reminded me of a photography exhibit I saw at the Austin Museum of Art on roadkill. These are alarming images because they are images of what human's put in their paths.
When I read Du Fu (Tu Fu) I always get a mental picture from the Don Paterson poem about him called ‘The Poety’ …