"A Date with Asteroid 134340"

the word 'failure'
removed after the first edition
gift of isinglass
in Texas Lithuania Salamanders

this morning the smell
of rain on the wind
why shouldn't a thousand years
in Texas Lithuania Salamanders

frail stalking word
cars without hubcaps
pale turquoise
in Texas Lithuania Salamanders

A language too beautiful to lose. (via Cursor) "...[w]aasabiik, which describes the way moonlight will winkle on the water on an almost still night."


"mille hominum species et rerum discolor usus" --Persius V. ('Men's types are legion, polychrome their use of things.' --tr Guy Lee & William Barr, The Satires of Perseus)


    "Lament of the Brazen Camels

At the end of the third month, out of office and poor,
I went to the eastern suburbs in search of flowers.
Who was it wrote a farewell song to spring?
The brazen camels lament on the banks of the Luo.

South of the bridge are many riders on horseback,
The northern mountain is girdled with ancient graves,
While men are quaffing cups of wine.
The camels sit and mourn ten million springs.

Useless to toil away in this life of ours.
It's only a wind-blown candle in a bowl.
Tired of seeing peach-trees smile again,
The brazen camels weep as night comes on."

--Li He (tr Frodham, 1983)


Affected Provincial. (via Metafilter)