Posted in Poetry, Translations on March 22, 2005 | No Comments »
Sunflower
By Rolf Jacobsen (Solsikke)
Trans. Curt Hopkins
What sower strode across the earth,
Which hands sowed
The heart’s seeds of fire?
Like rainbow’s bands they went out from his fists
To the frozen ground, young earth, hot sand
And there shall they sleep
Greedy, and drink up our life
And break it into pieces
For the sake of a sunflower you don’t know
Or a king-thistle [...]
Posted in Poetry on March 20, 2005 | No Comments »
Her face, each gaze, I bathe in shattered stars,
And everything I give away—
My soul, my fate, my heart—I trade
For traces of her ancient days,
Cathedrals falling to their knees in dismal plains
Where winds howl dust across the silent rings of ruined worlds.
At silver noon, knock thrice,
The gwragedd annwn sing,
A shiver of me in the throat,
A sliver [...]
Posted in Blogging, Superintelligent sea cucumbers on March 17, 2005 | No Comments »
With blogs gaining more and more public attention, I think it would be useful to provide those interested in learning about them with a glossary, demystifying somewhat the closed world of the blogosphere. Language is a passport and for those who wish to join the more than eight million who write blogs and 40.5 million [...]
Posted in Committee to Protect Bloggers, Publications on March 14, 2005 | 1 Comment »
Due to my combination of experience as a journalist and as the Director of the Committee to Protect Bloggers, the National Post and the Los Angeles Times both asked me to write op-ed pieces on the issue of bloggers and human rights which have subsequently been published.
Posted in Poetry, Translations on March 12, 2005 | No Comments »
Autumn Day
By Rainer Maria Rilke (Herbsttag)
Trans. Curt Hopkins
Lord, it is time. The summer was enormous.
Lay your shadows down upon the sundials,
And cast loose the winds upon the meadows.
Command the last remaining fruits to ripen,
Give them just two more southerly days,
Press them toward their resolution, chase
The last sweetness into the strong wine.
Anyone who has no house [...]
Posted in Poetry, Translations on March 11, 2005 | 2 Comments »
Longing
By Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff
(born this day in 178
Trans. Curt Hopkins
The stars shone out so golden
As I stood at the window alone
And heard a horn from far away
Call out across the silent land.
In my chest my heart was burning
As I asked myself:
Oh, who will travel with me
Through this gorgeous summer night?
Two young companions went
Down [...]
Posted in Dewi Sant, St. David's Day, Wales on March 2, 2005 | 2 Comments »
Yesterday was Dydd Dewi Sant, which I did not know until I listened to a BBC show from yesterday just now. As a Welshman, I quickly realized I had sinned greviously and promptly punched myself in the face, as is the custom in Wales.
I should have known it was Dydd Dewi Sant, as the daffodils [...]
Posted in Poetry on March 2, 2005 | 1 Comment »
“I go out to all my wars.” — Yehuda Amichai
He’s dead, irretrievably dead,
Irrevocable, third-hand and envolumed,
Not simply dead, he failed and died and failed
Again and died again, until he finally
Died for good, went down and stayed there.
We fail, that’s what we do, we age and fail.
We wake up in the morning and we say,
I’ve got [...]
Posted in Poetry on March 2, 2005 | No Comments »
Faint traces of music
Played in the back rooms of our cells and spirits
Drift out into the dining rooms of the world,
Cutting cleanly through the conversation.
Eaters stumble, mortified and then enraged.
They try to drown it out, speech redoubled,
Flatware clattering to the floor
And water glasses ringing.
But everything they do
Conspires with those dim strains
From inglorious rooms
To make more [...]
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