Best Translators Poems

If two heads are better than one
How much better is three.
For the time has come 
When Translators cannot agree.

Nigel wrote the words in Latin script
And much time has passed 
With many Learned Ones pen’s dipt
In deciding what the story of the Ass encripted.

It is not...

Continue reading...

Humpback beauties call to their young
Communicating to calves so precious 
Don't be so immediately audacious
You can wander, just don't go too long

Blubberous parents are there to keep them close
For companionship, warmth and learning 
Send each other many signals, the little one is yearning
Because of the...

Continue reading...

Brian’s Poet of Note – ‘Herman Hesse’ Week 2

This week I thought I would discuss translating poetry from another language. I just finished retranslating from German this poem ‘Stufen’ from Hesse’s famous novel ‘The Glass Bead Game’) but it has been a favorite of mine...

Continue reading...

K373 and K374 of the THIRUKKURAL: Translated with Commentary

The poet's name, THIRUVALLUVAR [Thiru = Sacred and Valluvar = the name of the priesthood caste of the « Pariah » (whom Mahatma Gandhi prefered to call "Harijans", "the children of God"), is very probably a misnomer....

Continue reading...

On the need to avoid being envious: Canto XVII, K161, K162 of the THIRUK-KURAL, Translation with Commentary

[ ENVY, of course, knows no racial nor ethnic boundaries, but I wouldn't be wrong, I dare say,  in thinking or assuming that being envious in an inveterate...

Continue reading...

"Slow Gin and Astral Conversations"



A maze me?

I’m the architect 
of my own destiny
he beguiled her 
incessantly 
from the depths of 
his bottled up Carceri
she knew him 
before he became 
a complex 
well-hidden 
Piranesi
twixt your world
and mine
places like that
brand you with
an addiction 
for fixed routine
remembering 
to...

Continue reading...

ALERT: A carpenter's son is loose in the Temple
Birds flutter, animals hustle, merchants scream.
The zeal for Jesus' Father's house consumes Him
As the place for foreigners to pray had become a zoo.
 
ALERT: A prophet is setting up for a Baal battle.
Baal's priests even cut themselves...

Continue reading...

It had been very hard for me
to speak with West
through translators, 
usually Russians ones
anchored by intelligent services, 
KGB or related them 
with such or others way.
Sometimes we have met Kyrgyzes mediators, 
but they are also spoiled 
by soviet or post-soviet propaganda, 
hated our own cultures...

Continue reading...

??? ????

????? ?? ?? ??? ???? ????
??? ?? ????? ?? ??? ???? ????
???? ????? ??? ???? ??
??? ? ??? ???? ?? ???? ????

?? ?? ???? ????? ??? ?? ? ??
??? ????? ?? ???? ?? ?? ? ??
??? ?????? ?? ?? ? ?? ???
?? ??? ???...

Continue reading...

Dinner Time

The scaly, green creature emerged
To a beach where swimmers converged

How quickly the crowd stepped aside
As the fourteen-foot reptile hit stride

From the Gulf to a nearby pond
He stepped in and poof, he was gone

Only then did we see the sign
Half hidden by a creeping vine

What’s...

Continue reading...

The Holy Bible is an ancient collection
Of 66 books comprised
Thirty-nine books mainly in Hebrew
The OT, by the Jewish people still prized.
The NT books were letters
Written in the Greek language.
The first five books were written by Moses,
Who out of Egypt conducted Israel’s passage.

Around 450 BC, the...

Continue reading...

Niitthaar Perumai: The Fundamental Role of the Ascetic, Canto 3 of the Thirukkural-K27 and 28. Translations and Commentary.

K27: kunamenung kunreeri ninraar veguli
         kanameeyung kaatthal larithu.
The wrath 'tis hard e'en for an instant to endure
Of those who virtue's...

Continue reading...

I don't know racism
but I do know

that woman
screaming 
in my face

well, I didn't stand for that
even if I had to grab 
the neighbor's kid
to translate for me

that woman
looking down
on my Chinese face
I had Julia write 
a Formal Complaint
the principal agreed
and did nothing

a weak woman
just imagine...

Continue reading...

Exemplifying jubilant triumphant life-building partnership
Sealed with remarkable intimate relationship
Around blissful freedom-bound fellowship
Upheld by care of loving leadership
Deserving loyal followership….

Such ties my Saviour through cord of sweet friendship
Nurtured by Christ upon Scriptural faith’s authorship
While I learn from His blessed mentorship
Propelling joyous faithful stewardship
Along functional fruitful discipleship…

God...

Continue reading...

Dear Bishop Michael Cote, Doctor of Divinity
through pre-historic untold ages
through reborn renaissance stages
through industriously energetic praises
through enlightenment phases
through empowerment dysphasia

Some of us lesser health care practitioners,
good faith social workers,
teachers,
parents and grandparents,
uncles and aunts,
and ecofeminist inter-religious allies
of LGBTQ souls

Working with, not judging against,
supporting, not hate-crime creating,
helping...

Continue reading...