Swans Commentary » swans.com January 13, 2014  

 


 

Ashabdam
 

 

by Guido Monte and Adele Ward

 

Multilingual Poetry

 

 

 

 

Pic: "door" - © 2013 by Guido Monte - Size: 11k
door
© 2013 Guido Monte

 

 

(Swans - January 13, 2014)  

guido

"la-kkol zeman" qohelet said, there's a time for everything

l'image du monde en prière devant le soleil...
who's a man? i don't know
(everything dies)
who's a man?
"the forgotten white mountain snow
bound village"

Adele

Tsongkhapa, crown ornament
of the scholars of the Land of the Snows,
teach us how all we perceive
is manomaya, made by mind.
It is emptiness, the most meaningful absence:
the absence of a book depends on the book,
and the absence of a man depends on the man.
(Everything dies. Nothing dies.)
Do I contradict myself? I contain yamaka:
no coming, no going; no after, no before;
no birth, no death; no books, no poets.
Who ever anywhere will read these written words?
Signs in a white field.
Cha o konoha kaku
arashi kana—
furious tea leaves scribble
nothings on the storm.

 

 

Notes and credits to Adele Ward's poem: lines 1-2 and 5-7 are from the writings of Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, line 4 refers to the Dhammapada, line 9 is from Walt Whitman and the word yamaka (dichotomies) is from the Dhammapada, line 10 is from the songs of Thich Nhat Hanh, lines 12-13 are from Ulysses by James Joyce, lines 14-17 are from a haiku by Basho translated by Sam Hamill.

Adele Ward is a poet, novelist, and co-owner of Ward Wood Publishing in London.

picture: door by Guido Monte (2013).

 

To e-mail this article

 

· · · · · ·

 

Care about Guido's work? Then please consider a donation. Thank you.

· · · · · ·

 

Legalese

Feel free to insert a link to this work on your Web site or to disseminate its URL on your favorite lists, quoting the first paragraph or providing a summary. However, DO NOT steal, scavenge, or repost this work on the Web or any electronic media. Inlining, mirroring, and framing are expressly prohibited. Pulp re-publishing is welcome -- please contact the publisher. This material is copyrighted, © Guido Monte 2014. All rights reserved.

 

Have your say

Do you wish to share your opinion? We invite your comments. E-mail the Editor. Please include your full name, address and phone number (the city, state/country where you reside is paramount information). When/if we publish your opinion we will only include your name, city, state, and country.

 

About the Author

Guido Monte on Swans (with bio). Also, please check Guido's entry on Wikipedia.   (back)

 

· · · · · ·

 

Internal Resources

Poetry

Arts & Culture

· · · · · ·

 

This edition's other articles

Check the front page, where all current articles are listed.

 

Also...

Check our past editions, where the past remains very present.


· · · · · ·

 

[About]-[Past Issues]-[Archives]-[Resources]-[Copyright]

 

 

Swans -- ISSN: 1554-4915
URL for this work: http://www.swans.com/library/art20/gmonte178.html
Published January 13, 2014



THE COMPANION OF THINKING PEOPLE