I think I'll wrap up the week with these two lovely haiku poems by Taneda Santoka, translated by Scott Watson. They are found on page 32 of Vallum v. 3:2.
all day
without words
waves
evening
glow
rub a
quiet
pot
I particularly like the serenity created by that second poem. Beautiful.
Have a great weekend.
8 comments:
lol @ the little haiku...too cute
all day
without words
waves
I live a few hundred feet from the gentle surf. Everyday I gaze on the subject of this haiku.
Thank you
Paros,
I envy you! I love the ocean, in any season.
I love the first haiku. It's enlightening with it's perfectly placed satori.
Travis:
I agree about the satori; the poem is so well crafted I feel drawn to read it over and over.
Amy I came across your use of my Santoka translations. Glad you like them. Do you get ever to Japan?
Scott Watson
Hello Scott,
Thanks so much for dropping by the site! I just loved that issue of Vallum, and especially those poems you translated.
I lived in Japan for a year and a half during 1990-91, then got an M.A. in East Asian Studies at Washington University in St. Louis; but I have not been back to Japan since I lived there. These days I'm working on poetry and poetry analysis, and I have a particular interest in the sense of "nowness" in the experience of a poem, that transience of being in the essence of the poem that comes and goes so quickly. (That how much it takes to say "mono no aware" in English.)
I assume you have extensive experience in Japan. I am very interested to know about it, if you are up to sharing. I am so glad you're out their doing quality translations of wonderful poetry.
Amy
Hi Amy. Yes, half my 52 years here. BTW Longhouse just brought out a new booklet of Santoka translations. the link is:
http://www.longhousepoetry.com/scottwatson.html
And there is a book available at Amazon. The Santoka..... like the ones Vallum used.
Lots to share. My email is swbotl@ma.mni.ne.jp
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