I’m continually impressed by Ezra Pound’s translations of Li Bai (or Li Po). This poem in particular, and especially now, as many of my friends (so many) scatter across the country. They all go to better things, and not a one is sad, but nonetheless, to echo Pound: Let us resolve also to make nothing […]
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Let’s not postpone enjoying poetry until we have time for poetry. Make time instead. This one is by Pablo Neruda. Si Tu Me Olvidas Quiero que sepas una cosa.

 Tú sabes cómo es esto: si miro la luna de cristal, la rama roja del lento otoño en mi ventana, si toco junto al fuego la […]
Friday, February 12, 2010
Quickly now, a snippet of cleanhanded searchlores: A method of finding free poetry that doesn’t step on any moral grass medians. This question of morality in fetching information is a stickyslick one, and I haven’t plumbed the full track of its stone wall for uneven spots yet. (If you have thoughts, I would like to […]
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
I listened to Librivox’s first collection of Spanish poetry last night, even though I have very little Spanish. Mostly to hear the way the language fits together, and to feel the cadence of their speech. I especially liked one poem on first listen, Manuel Acuña’s Nocturno a Rosario (mp3). The translation doesn’t impress me—though, to […]
Saturday, October 17, 2009
tiger the color of light, brown deer on the outskirts of night, girl glimpsed leaning over green balconies of rain, adolescent incalculable face, I’ve forgotten your name, Melusina, Laura, Isabel, Persephone, Mary, your face is all the faces and none, you are all the hours and none… — Octavio Paz, Piedra de Sol (I found […]
“I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will […]
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Oh, Yes there are worse things than being alone but it often takes decades to realize this and most often when you do it’s too late and there’s nothing worse than too late. –Charles Bukowski
The first issue of Bricabrac is ready. At long last. Bricabrac is my to-be-monthly poetry mix zine, full of the poems I like and think you should like. I love the way April’s issue looks. Tofer Moran, the wondrous designer, clothier, and my fellow musician, has beautifully executed my idea of creating something similar to […]
A month or so ago I watched Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and loved it (Michael Cera exudes the Neeson effect: he makes otherwise mediocre movies watchable). After draining my heart of sap build-up, I started thinking about the idea of mixing music; how to do it, what holds songs together, the purpose of a […]
I’d heard Milk-Eyed Mender a few times, but I only really got into Joanna Newsom’s music with Ys. What a beautiful album. At first, her voice turned me off. I had a crappy bootleg of Yarn and Glue. Or are all versions like that? Mine was recorded in some sort of drive-me-mad stereo mode. It […]