Andrew Lansdown: Five Poems
On the Composition of Haiku
i
The haiku master—
labouring past the moment
to seize the moment.
ii
Counting syllables—
the ancient haijin did not
count it beneath them.
iii
Attempting to touch
in seventeen syllables
a small thing as such.
Andrew Lansdown
Ukiyo-e Kawaii
Plainly sparrows will
fluff up for warmth while perching at
nightfall or snowfall—
but who can explain the plumpness
of the ones winging
among stylised bamboos in those
woodblocks by the ancient masters?
Andrew Lansdown
Miscellaneous Thoughts on Poetry
1
On Poetry and Photography
Poems, like photographs,
can check the covetousness
that attractive things
engender in human hearts—
the craving to catch and keep.
2
On Imagist Poetry
Precise imagery,
plausible and original,
is strangely moving:
who can define or dare dismiss
the emotion of exquisite?
3
On Japanese Poetry
Hard to tell, at times,
if the loneliness…
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