Matthew's Poetry Collection - The Emotions of Loss

 Introduction

Throughout this anthology, I wanted to capture a form of progression in the organization of these poems. With that being said, my eight selected poems have been arranged in a way that encapsulates the progression of grief and loss. This idea has been sitting with me throughout the semester which I had to personally experience. The progression starts with the moments leading up to the tragedy and ends with the eventual acceptance of what has happened. Given how prevalent Mujō is as well as grief and loss, I wanted to show my appreciation for such emotional themes by basing my anthology on how these emotions develop overtime.

 

1. Basho Haiku & Out in the Streets: Poem #847

He'll be dying soon

but there's not a hint of it

in the cicada's voice.

 

Before a sudden death, no one, including the one who passes, won't even know it's coming. The last time you see them, they are perfectly fine. There isn't a hint of the lingering essence of death. It reflects on the true impermanence of life and how it can be stripped away just like that.

 

2. Salad Anniversary: Page 10

"O.K. See you later..."

the words are no different from

all the other times.

Why do I feel that something

is different on this Wednesday?

 

This poem perfectly reflects on the final moments you will spend with someone before their death. You don't think about it in the moment, but you notice that something doesn't feel right for that final time. This feeling will be the first telltale sign that something isn't right. Unfortunately, by the time you really notice this feeling, it's too late to do anything about it. 

3. Izunami Shikibu: Poem #211

Now that he's gone,

how I wish I could recall

"That time, yes that time!"-

Some unhappy time with him

I might wish now to forget.

 

Just like that, they are gone. There will be no more memories to make with them. All that is left is the memories you have already made in the past. The initial feeling of denial, grasping at memories of the in-between times. You can't help but think about the negative memories you may have with them. You wish to only remember the positive memories, the ones that bring a smile to your face. You reminisce on the past wishing that you could go back.

 

4. Princess Shikishi: Poem #350

 

Even in my dreams

the breezes keeps on blowing 

through fading blossoms-

allowing no sense of calm

to my nap on spring day.

 

Here you are now, trying to move forward without their presence. The stress lingers onward, following you around "allowing no sense of calm". You cannot even find peace in your dreams as the harsh breeze of stress follows you there. You are unable to be at peace with yourself.

 

5. Salad Anniversary: Page 6

 

After seeing you

and seeing you go, I feel

that all the twilight is shining on a tableau  

you dominate completely

 

 The one who passed left a significant impact on your life. Their long lasting presence will linger on around you for the rest of your life. However, it is a new feeling to you and so it dominates your life. The loss of a loved one is significant and something you will not forget. It will be a hard feeling to get used to.

 

6. Carter The Ancient Age: Poem #77

More peace would I have

if I could die and be gone;

for as it now

I can't tell dawn from dusk-

so pained am I by love.

 

 The eventual realization that they aren't coming back won't sit right with you. You question how you can go on without them in your life. The acknowledgement that they won't be around for any events, anything in your life, is too much the take. You wonder if the only way to find peace again is you disappear from this world. The loss of your loved one consumes you completely that you aren't even able to recognize the days as they go by.

 

7. Tales of Ise: Poem #91

 

With all my heart, 

I willed it to be otherwise,

and yet on this,

the final day of springtime,

the shades of evening fall

 

Going months with the dread you carry with you, you finally begin to accept the reality. You struggle to find a new normal but it will eventually happen. You realize, time will go on and the Earth will continue to spin. This is the reality of nature and life. Everything that lives, must eventually die. Time is inevitable, and that is a truth you must now acknowledge.

 

8. Carter The Ancient Age: Poem #49

 

Out in my garden

plum blossoms are scattering.

Or might it be snow

floating down from the sky-

those distant horizons?

 

It has been a long time since their passing. You've accepted what has happened and continue on with your loved one in the back of your mind. However, you sometimes see something that reminds you of your loss. The scattering of the plum blossoms remind you that all life eventually comes to an end. However, you take a closer look and see that it may still be snow on the ground. You question if you're truly out of your own "winter". You'll never truly know when you're out of your period of hardships. Life is not a linear progression and hardships will never stop.

 

Conclusion

This anthology takes you through an emotional trip on the progression of grief and loss. I hope that others get this sense and appreciates the process that is needed to get through emotional turmoil. Loss of a loved one is a painful subject that everyone will eventually have to experience one way or another. Some experience it sooner than others. I find that this collection of poems beautifully shapes the feeling and the process of going through loss. I hope you have enjoyed this experience.

 

 

Elise's Poetry Anthology

Introduction

Throughout the semester, I have been particularly drawn to poetry related to love and loss. I feel as though those poems often impact people. most. They relate to feelings we have all experienced or can empathize with. The poems are arranged as a story. It begins with the excitement of a new found passion, and progresses from that moment. There are a lot of nature motifs and symbolism within these poems. They illustrate the tradition of those themes within Japanese poetry, and the greater beauty of life. 

1.  Ariwara no Narihira Poetry

“How very foolish!

Shall I Spend all of today

lost in pensive thought,

my heart bewitched by someone

neither seen nor yet unseen?” (P 78)

In this poem, the speaker becomes enthralled with a woman they only just saw. They barely even see her when they begin to fall in love. It is an entirely superficial crush that still compels them to fill their days with the thought of her. This poem displays the joy of a crush. There is no sense of sadness or anger. It is simply the beginning of a new love. The usage of the word “bewitched” is so interesting. It displays this complete and utter infatuation for someone that can not completely be controlled. It is as if the speaker is under a spell at this moment. The glimpse they caught of this potential love had such a strong impact on them, that their only option is to continue to think of her. 

2.  Ono no Komachi

“Though I go to you

ceaselessly along dream paths, the sum of those trysts

is less than a single glimpse granted in the waking world.” (P 86)

This poem is the start of a relationship. It presents the yearning that the speaker feels for this person. It is something that consumes her whole dream, and yet the person can barely glance at them in the real world. There is so little said, yet a whole world can be built from that poem. The sense of longing that the poem portrays indicates that these feelings are yet to be reciprocated. The speaker can only hope that their dreams will become a reality. They have but one connection to their love, and it is incorporeal. The bridge of dreams is a common motif within Japanese poetry, but the presentation of that idea is different within this poem. The speaker is going to this person in their dreams, they are not mutually meeting. This is an impactful connection for the speaker, but does not hold the same weight for the other person. 

3. Salad Anniversary 

“All those snapshots

I am taking seriously at Kujukuri Beach…

there is a good chance I will

throw all of them away” (P 14).

The contemporary nature of the Salad Anniversary collection combined with the poetic tradition of Tanka creates a poem that is seamlessly simple and yet full of emotion. The speaker is presented with the foresight that the photos she is taking earnestly will most likely not matter to her in the future. She writes about the mujo of this moment, and the potential loss within her life. She is unsure if this day at the beach has any greater significance within her life, but that does not stop her from living. She is not deterred by the potential for these points in her life to lose their meaning, because if they mean something to her now, they are important. She writes so elegantly about emotion in everyday situations that every person should be able to relate to her poems.

4.  Izumi Shikibu

“It makes sense, of course- for why should not the stag

be calling so,

when one thinks that this night

may be the last of its life?” (P 122)

 Although this poem does not seem directly related to love, it is an amazing representation of the viewing of loss. The speaker is mourning the deer because he believes that it is his last night on Earth. There is no way for the speaker to tell if that is the reality of the stag’s situation, and yet they empathize with him nonetheless. The somber tone shows the humanity of animals and their own interpretation of love and loss. The stag is longing for connection in his final moments, and even though he does not realize it, he has found it within the speaker. The speaker understands the deer on a level that shows her affinity for love. They are alone within the world, much like the stag. The writing of this poem seems to be a similar call for connection in life. 

5.   Kokinshu Love Book Five

“cutting us apart

now like the trailing ivy-

can he mean to part

sending me not even a

whisper on the blowing wind” (P 268)

Ivy is traditionally considered an invasive species. It grows and takes over nature until there's nothing left. The two lovers being portrayed as ivy indicates that they were perhaps destructive towards each other. It shows that even when they try to part, they will eventually come back together, intertwined throughout their lives. This speaker is presenting the love they felt for another person being swiftly and forcefully cut off. It was a love that was never meant to last and yet it had such an impact on this person. The speaker is left wondering if the person who broke their relationship off without a single word did so intentionally. The act of leaving them in the dark without a word of acknowledgement from their former lover clearly causes the speaker immense pain. 

6. Gossamer Journal

“Why must showers fall,

adding their moisture to a robe

turned inside out

and drenched with the tears of one

whose heart is heavy with grief?” (P 107)

The motif of rain mixing with a person's tears on a robe has been seen throughout time. It symbolizes the larger grief of a person and the world’s response to those strong feelings. The speaker is already crying and with the addition of the rain, no longer is his sleeve the only damp part of their outfit. The rain is this weight they are wearing, it is a physical manifestation of the grieve inside their heart. This person is disheveled. Their robe is inside out, representing the outward portrayal of their feelings, and their exposure to the elements indicates that they are alone in this life. 

7. Yosa Buson

“Ah, it cuts deep-

to step on my dead wife's comb,

here where we slept.” (P 396)

This poem is very emotional. Although it describes the very mundane act of a man stepping on his dead wife’s comb, it is so much more than that. The way that Yosa Buson presents the situation illustrates the sense of loss this man feels. The speaker is at home, in the space that he and his wife used to share, and even though she is gone her presence is still around. The act of brushing one’s hair is often seen as ritualistic. It is intentional that a comb is used as the item that the widow steps on. Combs are extremely personal because they help to purify one's spirit through the brushing of their hair. As he steps on the comb, he is physically reminded that she is still with him. Her spirit continues to occupy the physical and his mental space. 

8.  Ki no Tsurayuki

“Even their reflections

in the stream depths are scattered

by the blowing wind:

kerria flowers on the bank

of the Yoshino river.” (P 104)

The poem presents the fragility of flower petals and their ability to interrupt life. The scattering of the petals across the surface of the water presents the unpredictability and ever changing nature of life. It represents the subtle ways in which life moves, and how even without human interaction the world moves forward. The water within the steam is constantly shifting, it continues to flow even when it is interrupted by the petals. They are only temporarily on the surface of the water. Eventually those petals will deteriorate with the movement of the river. The cycle of the ecosystem is that eventually nature will balance itself, and this poem showcases the stability of nature. 

Conclusion

The anthology that I have compiled is an illustration of a relationship. It showcases the process of being spun into a relationship and then having to eventually deal with the deterioration. The ending is simply the broader and continually moving nature of life. The relationship was important and held a lot of weight for the person, but eventually it will fade into the rest of time. The large feelings become nothing but another blip within the world. 

I really enjoyed reanalyzing these poems and putting them into a large story. It allowed me to see various ways in which these poems could be interpreted and organized. The feelings within the relationship and being able to see its coming end were something that I wanted to be sure to include within my collection. My organization is a little unconventional, but overall I believe that the narrative between the poems comes together nicely and allows the poems to be viewed in a different context.

Michaelsan's Poetry Collection

 

I decided to try to organize the poems I chose in such a way that they created a story. Now this did mean that I didn’t necessarily choose my favorite poems of my lot, even though I do more or less like all the poems I chose for this anthology. Also, since each poem is by a different author it may not be exactly clear what the story is from the first reading. To counteract the latter, I split up my individual poem discussions into two parts: the first part will be explaining my thoughts on the poem itself, independently of all the others here, while the second part will be explaining how the poem connects to the overall plot I organized the poems around. However, I actually recommend not reading those discussions until after you’ve read all eight poems because I want you to try to piece together the story on your own first before I spell it out for you. 

1.)   Poem #111 by Ariwara no Narihira

How very foolish! / Shall I spend all of today / lost in pensive thought, / my heart bewitched by someone / neither seen or yet unseen?

I simply found this poem neat when I first read it and to this day I still find it neat. I see it as a very concise and effective way to illustrate how even a transitory glance at something can have so much influence over someone. It also have gained a new layer of depth in my eyes after having read In Praise of Shadows, specifically in how the sight of the woman Ariwara no Narihira sees is “neither seen or yet unseen.” That description sounds to me like the perfect way to summarize how Tanizaki described Japanese aesthetics. Perhaps this means that Narihira would not have been so infatuated with this woman if he saw her in full?

Here, our story begins with our protagonist catching a brief glimpse of a woman. His view of her was not clear whatsoever, with the reason for its unclarity being even more unclear than our protagonist’s view of the woman. Yet despite this our protagonist seems to fall head over heels for this woman. He’s so in love with her that he chastises himself for obsessing over a woman he doesn’t even know the full face of. So what will he do now?

2.)   Poem #4 by Emperor Yūryaku

O maiden / with a basket, / a pretty basket, / with a scoop, / a pretty scoop, / maiden picking greens / on this hillside: / I want to ask about your house; / I want to be told your name. / In the sky-filling land of Yamato, / it is I / who rule everyone, / it is I / who rule everywhere, / and so I think you will tell me / where you live, / what you are called.

I still find this poem absolutely adorable upon rereading it. While I imagine many people today would find it creepy or an abuse of power on Emperor Yūryaku’s end to write this, I frankly think it indicates a great deal of politeness and restraint on his part. After all, he was the Emperor of Japan (or at least of the area this girl lived in) at the time; even if the position was mostly a sinecure I can’t help but think that if he wanted to forcefully bed or marry this girl he could’ve done so and gotten away with it. Yet instead he tries to woo her via poetry, asking her to give up her name and location to him willingly; even his invocations to his imperial nature come across more as a guy flexing his muscles than one pointing a gun at another. The fact he’s willing to be so gentlemanly towards a girl who’s likely much lower class than him (as suggested by the manual labor she is doing) just make this poem all the more charming.

In the story, we discover that our protagonist is actually an Emperor of Japan itself! Not only that, but we learn that the woman who’s mere sight infatuated him is a peasant girl, who’s job is to pick crops on a hillside. With his clout the Emperor could easily find the peasant girl and take her for himself easily, yet due to his gentle nature he instead tries to win her over via poetry. Of course, he can’t help but flex all of his mighty power (even if said power is mostly symbolic) in an attempt to impress this woman, yet that is not the only reason he does so. For he wants the peasant girl to be as honest with him as he is with her—question is, however, will she be?

3.)   Poem #963 by Buson

“Please, give me a room!” – / he tosses his swords aside / in windblown snow.

            Even knowing that this poem was made during the twilight years of the power and prestige of the samurai class, I continue to find the image created by this poem ingrained in my mind. I think it’s because of how unnatural the image is; in nature/outside of civilization, it’s almost always the case where the stronger animal takes what it wants from the weaker one. Yet in this snowy poem, we instead see the presumably stronger man (he is at least armed), make himself weaker by disarming himself to obtain shelter from the weaker party (since the innkeepers probably do not have weapons). To reiterate, in the wild, a stronger animal that wants a weaker animal’s shelter would just drive the weaker animal out. Thus this situations strike me as one that could only happen in a civilization.

            Our Emperor has managed to find the Peasant Girl’s house due to her telling her its location, and he comes alone on a snowy and windy night, albeit while armed. Yet when he comes to the Peasant Girl’s house, he is rejected (most likely by her parents) and not allowed inside. Why the Emperor was rejected is a mystery: perhaps the girl is a member of a clan hostile to the Emperor, or perhaps they didn’t believe he was the Emperor, or maybe it was simply because of an unmentioned physical deformity the Emperor had? Regardless of the true reason, our Emperor is so desperate to be let inside that he begs and disarms himself in order to persuade the girl’s parents to let him in. He is not successful.

4.)   Poem on page 79 of Issa’s The Spring of my Life

Like a murderer, / the thirsty mosquito hides / in the musky well.

            On the surface, this poem is just a simple simile and I imagine whoever wrote it thought so too; yet the image this simple simile creates is incredibly potent, at least to me. For mosquitoes, due to them carrying several diseases, are estimated by current demographers to be responsible for half of all human deaths, with half of the humans who died from mosquito-borne diseases being children. In fact, it’s quite likely that Issa lost at least one of his children to such a disease; him adding a poem into the chapter where his beloved daughter died from smallpox (which to be fair isn’t a mosquito-transmitted disease) comparing mosquitos to murderers is quite fitting whether he realized it or not. In fact, here’s something interesting: mosquitoes are actually a type of fly and “Beelzebub” (which means “Lord of the Flies”) is either another name for the devil or that of another demon. Do what you will with this information.

            In a well frequented by the Peasant Girl, a mosquito hides and waits for prey to appear. When the Peasant Girl eventually makes her first trip to the well after the Emperor’s visit, this mosquito strikes. The girl is annoyed and itches, but otherwise pays so little mind to the assault that she forgets about it in a few hours. Yet little does she know that the mosquito has murdered her, for it has infected her with a disease that will take her life. It will take some time for the symptoms to start, keeping her and everyone around her oblivious to her fate.  

5.)   Poem #193 of the Kokinshu sequence (from Spring 2) by Anonymous

Could I give commands / to such breezes as might blow, / I would say to them: / “There is here a single tree / from which you must stay away

            I feel like most of humanity is aware that most change is entropic in nature, wittingly or otherwise, and thus we instinctively disdain change in that we care about most. Yet the thing about entropy is that it is very powerful, much more powerful than any man, and thus we are forced to come to terms with decay and rot due to our relevant powerlessness against them. This poem articulates a desire I know we have all had at least once in our lives before: to demand that death and decay spare at least one thing from its grasp. I imagine even cultures like Japan which find beauty and value in impermanence can’t help but feel such desires crawling up from within. For better or for worse, however, time cares not about the feelings of mere humanity, and it marches on regardless.

            Outside of the Peasant Girl’s family and neighbors, only one man knows of her illness: the Emperor himself. He knows that using his influence to sent doctors to an unknown peasant family will cause an outrage among the nobility—but he cares not for such things. Unfortunately, he knows that his doctors are useless, for the disease the Peasant Girl has caught is all but a death sentence with no cure known among his people and time. Even as the Emperor of Japan, all he can do is pray that the winds spare his beloved tree from their cold grasp.

6.)   Poem #124 by Ono no Komachi

Tears that do no more / than turn into beads on sleeves / are formal indeed. / Mine flow in a surging stream, / try though I may to halt them.

            Rereading this poem after what we have read reminds me of the giri (obligations/duties) and ninjou (emotions) conflict often seen in latter Japanese stories. On one hand you have the formal, controlled tear droplets while on the other had you have the wild and frenzied stream of tears. These two types of crying strike me as corresponding to giri and ninjou respectively, even if it may seem like a bit of a stretch. You even have Komachi trying to halt the surge of tears, mirroring how giri tries to restrain ninjou. I wouldn’t be surprised if I am looking too deep into this, but I can’t help but think that even this surface-level comparison is thought interesting enough to share.

            The Peasant Girl has died. The Emperor knows that he should control his tears so that they become mere beads on his silk sleeves; in fact, he likely shouldn’t even be mourning for this girl at all. Yet he can’t help but drench his sleeves via the stream that pours from his eyes. All that remains of her now is the memory of the brief glance that he was able to see of her.

7.)   Poem #272 by Fujiwara no Shunzei

How is it that ducks / are able to stay afloat / out on the water, / while I feel myself sinking / even here on the land?

            I love this poem because I see it as a great description of how misery can feel at times. Your mind is so heavy that even terra firma seems to struggle to support you when you need to stand as tall as possible. There’s also an element of jealousy in this poem, for Fujiwara is asking how ducks—mere beasts—are able to float on liquid as solids seem to crumble under his feet. Taken metaphorically, Fujiwara is wondering why mindless (or at least dumber) animals are able to achieve a degree of happiness that he’s unable to obtain even a faction of. I think there’s something very relatable in that sentiment if one has personally never felt such great sadness.

            The Emperor’s tears have stopped, but his misery remains. He feels as if his sadness is so great that its weight is liable to collapse the ground beneath his feet. The Emperoer even starts to envy how the ducks are able to glide across the water so carefree, and yet his misery is so great it smothers any wrath that the envy could have caused. It’s as if he is little more than a breathing dead man.

8.)   Poem #297 by Monk Saigyō

Even one who claims / to no longer have a heart / feels this sad beauty: / snipes flying up from a marsh / on an evening in autumn

            In this poem I find my main problem with Buddhism articulated. Monk Saigyō still finds much beauty in this world even though he thinks he should “have no heart” and thus no attachment to this world. Yet while I agree with Buddhism that our hearts are full of evil and that we put too much importance on temporary things, I cannot agree with the solution being to totally give up desires and the world. For our hearts need to be redeemed, not destroyed. This is what Christianity promises to do, and I consider Christianity (in particular Roman Catholicism) to be true; any disagreement Buddhism has with Christianity is Buddhism being wrong. This does not mean that I consider Buddhism evil or worthless—there is much virtue to be found in many of both its teachings and its practitioners—but it does mean that I consider Buddhism to be fundamentally mistaken about how to fix ourselves.

The Emperor has decided to become a lay monk. His heart was broken so he has decided to get rid of it: he wants to have no attachment to the world. Yet he can’t help but still love the sights around him. He can’t help but love the peasant girl he saw so many years ago. Is detachment really the solution to his woes? Only time will tell now.

 

Overall, it was quite fun to write a story using only poems I had chosen to already write about. It may not be a traditional Japanese poem anthology organizing principle but I hope it was enjoyable nonetheless. I’m quite proud of the story too; the idea of an emperor falling in love with someone much lower class only for that love to be crushed by forces not even he can control is an idea I’m glad to have written down, even in this form. My biggest worry is that the story I tried to construct between my poem was too vague to understand, but if that’s the case then I hope either you enjoyed what I wrote in the discussions or that you make your own similar story to organize the poems around in your head.

Christophers poetry selection

 Introduction: 

As I reflect on the Japanese poems that I've studied throughout the semester, I'm very struck by the emotional depth that is packed into such short poems. I feel that all the poems that we read, whether it's from an ancient court tradition or modern Tonka innovations, all open a window into both Japanese culture and my own sense of connection with these poems. In order to organize my selections, I arranged the poems between historical and classical poems filled with voices, rooted in personal detail. I hope that the reader is able to see how poetry has evolved and changed its focus overtime. Through the structure, I'm aiming to blend my personal reflection with the thought and analysis of the poems we read this year. 

1.A Court Lady’s Musings

(Carter)

24. Things People Look Down On

The north side of a house.

A person with a reputation for excessive good nature.

A very old man.

A loose woman.

A crumbling earthen wall around an establishment.

At first glance, I feel like this poem reads like a list of minor Sad feelings and social judgments. But as I read the poem over, I feel like there's more of a sharp cultural feeling. There's some sort of dismissive tone that is added to things like the north side of the house or a loose woman. I feel like it doesn't only reflect personal opinion, but it shows some modern social biases, like judging people based on appearance or status. I feel like we still do this today; we make assumptions based on appearances or outdated beliefs. It kind of reminded me of how easy it is to misunderstand people just because of what we've been taught in our past and how we've been taught to value things.

2 . Pioneering Memories of the Tenth Century

(Carter - Glossamer Journal, PDF page 3)

Please do not persist, 

O cuckoo, in a fruitless song

Outside a house

Where there dwells no person

With whom you might care to speak.

1.  This poem really made me feel something as soon as I started reading it. I feel like the image of a bird calling out to an empty house is very sad and lonely. It is almost like someone trying to reach out, but no one is responding. I feel like we've all had moments when we try to connect with someone and we just get nothing back, I know I've definitely felt this. What made this poem feel even more emotional was the gentle way that the speaker is asking the bird to stop; it's almost like they are quietly giving up. Something that also headed home for me was how the feeling of hoping for a response and slowly accepting that it won't come. I also feel like the bird wasn't just a bird. It was a symbol of unspoken feelings and Japanese poetry birds like the Coco often show sadness or distance, and that definitely shows here. The poem is simple, but it says a lot about loneliness, hope and pain of not being heard.

3.Basho - Spring 912 (Basho's Disciples, poems 907-913)

Open his palm

Hel lets a flea crawl about

In blossom’s shade 

This prom really stood at me because it's peaceful and it's also kind of funny. I feel like an image of someone sitting under blooming Fowlers while a small flea is crawling on their hand is strange, but I also feel like it's weird, weirdly calming. At first, I felt like I might've left a little. It's such a small odd moment, but then I realize it's really about accepting the things that annoy you in life instead of always fighting against them. Basho, Was really good at finding beauty and everyday situations and I feel like it's usually the ones that don't seem beautiful at first. There's a contrast between peaceful blossoms and the little pest of an itchy flea. This kind of reminds me of how life is a mix of good and bad at the same time. I like how the poem doesn't really make a huge deal out of the flea and it's kind of just their existence. There's some sort of patience and acceptance within this program and I really admire it.  I feel like this poem says a lot about how we could choose to deal with life's challenges and annoyances. 

4.Prince Kinashikaru (Carter The Ancient Age, PDF page 3)

O heaven-soaring, Maiden of Karu:

if weep aloud, 

People will know our secret-

So like the doves

Of hasa mountain

I will weep, but weep quietly

The heaven-coursing birds are couriers:

Each time you hear

The call of a passing crane,  

Ask what has become of me.

This poem was really emotional for me, especially knowing the backstory. I feel like the speaker is dealing with forbidden love and is trying to keep their feelings hitting. This is very common within people today. What really touched me was the idea of a very soft cry that no one hears. I feel that there's some sort of strength in this feeling of pain but keeping it to yourself in order to protect the ones you love. I also feel like the energy of the bird also stuck with me, doves and cranes, birds. I feel like there's symbols of hope and love. I thought it was really beautiful how the speaker hopes the other person will hear the crane's call and thank the good things of them. This shows how strong love can really be even when people are not with each other. This made me think about how much people are willing to endure for love and how powerful it can be.

5. Izumi Shikibu - SPRING (Ono bo Komachi and Izumi Shikibu, PDF page 2)

Autum nights,

It seems, ae long by repute alone:

Scarcely had we met

When mornings’s fist light appeared,

I leaving everything unsaid.

This is another one of those poems where I felt some feeling as soon as I started reading it I feel like the moment passes too quickly like something meaningful happened, but it was over before we had the chance to take it in. Most people feel this way at some point in their lives where you're wishing you had some more time. I know I definitely feel this graduating as a senior. I feel like the line leave. Everything is very simple, but it's also expressing a lot.. It's like that feeling of regret when something that you love slips away from you. I also feel that the setting of an autumn night increases this feeling As autumn is usually connected to endings. I like how this poem don't over explain emotion and left some space for the reader to feel it in their own ways. 

6. Salad Anniversary Excerp (PDF page 2)

Picnic on the sand:

That egg sandwich lying there

Just lying there 

Untouched. Suddenly i find

Its been worrying me

This poem is something that you actually mentioned in class one day and you mentioned how you thought being pretty funny , And on the surface, I do think it's funny, but I also feel towards the end we get a very emotional Feeling. I think we've all definitely had some moments where some small things bugged us and then later we realized it was something entirely different. And that's what I think this poem is really about. I don't think it's about the sandwich, but I think it's about the feeling the author has. Sometimes we get stressed and overwhelmed, and our brains hold onto little things that don't really matter and get in the way of finding the root problem. I love this poem because it's a great example of how Japanese poetry could make you really think about your own life.

7.WINTER: 1780 

98x. At the house next door, 

he’s still talking -

An oil seller

Three feet now on the ground

In the snowy twilight.

I feel like this poem really painted a clear picture in my mind. The snow piling up and hearing the oilers voice and the cold evening air. I feel like Emotions are broader in the winter. There are quiet winter moments when everything around is still the trees are dusted with snow and you hear one small sound in the distance. I feel like this poem doesn't try and mess around or explain too, It's just sharing some simple observations. It makes me think about how much we notice until we really slow down and take everything in the lie. About 3 feet now on the ground, they may be talking about snow, but this also adds a quiet weight Like the world is settling in for the night. 

8.Other Poets of The Ancient Age (2)

74. In everything

Its new things that are best,

Except for in men:

Only men just get better

After they’ve grown old.

  I think this poem made me pretty happy and gave me some sort of a smile because it begins sounding like a joke but then it also makes a pretty good point. Everything new is usually seen as better except when it comes to men. I thought this was pretty interesting and a different way of how society uses people. It also makes me think about how differently age has seen men versus how it's seen in women. An older tax woman was praised for being very young and beautiful, but here we're sitting and Appreciation for older men. I feel like that's pretty sweet and also the speaker believes that they get better with time and wiser and more experience and I fully agree with this. It also feels like there's a small reminder not to chase after what's new just because it's new And how age can sometimes bring depth and value That can't be gained in any other way.

Conclusion:

When I'm looking back at all these poems, it helps me realize how much they taught me to slow down and noticed a little things, If it's a bird's cry a sandwich at the beach or a quiet winter evening I feel like all these poems help me understand small moments, and they all carry lots of meaning. What I like the most is how each one felt very personal. It's almost like I could find something in myself with all of these poems. Meanwhile, they were written in totally different time periods and places.  This pump showed me that strong feelings don't always need loads of words to be expressed. This also reminded me that silence and simple observations, even when not talked about can be very powerful. Within this project, I feel like poetry is not only something I just read, but it's something I felt and it's something that allowed me to connect with. I appreciate all the things our professor did for us this semester and thank you.