Lin Chu's Last Poems
The Lin Chu booklet, The Black Swan, is now ready. It can be ordered directly from me for $25.00 at allan-cooper@excite.com. This edition includes 20 poems, and is limited to 30 numbered and signed copies. The booklet is printed on acid free, archival paper.
I was going through my papers at the cabin the other day, and found 10 more finished versions of the last poems of Lin Chu. These are elegant little poems that resemble haiku. Eventually I'll collect all 75 of my versions under one cover. In the meantime the reader can find a number of the poems in Heaven of Small Moments (Broken Jaw Press, 1998), Singing the Flowers Open (Gaspereau Press, 2001) and the new publication, The Black Swan (Owl's Head Press).
I've decided to include the 10 Lin Chu with this post, just so everyone can see what they look like. The "Little Cricket" poem I posted earlier appears at the end.
I saw you again today.
Your face still holds
the same clear lines of longing.
*
I want you to understand
I sleep alone
and think only of you.
*
When you're gone
this intensity
lingers on for hours.
*
I see faces in clouds,
in blossoms opening,
and each of them is yours.
*
When you're gone
I feel the sorrow
of blossoms falling.
*
I trace the creases around your eyes:
life lines
I've followed since my birth.
*
Today I saved an ant,
a spider and a moth.
And all the time I was thinking of you.
*
I saw you once with fireflies in your hair.
I reached out and touched them.
Others thought that I was flirting.
*
The wild strawberries are so intense
and fragile
I can't reach down and lift them to my mouth.
*
My desire
tangles
in the sound of your voice.
*
Little cricket, you called me.
My voice followed you
all the way home.
(Copyright 2006, Allan Cooper)
I was going through my papers at the cabin the other day, and found 10 more finished versions of the last poems of Lin Chu. These are elegant little poems that resemble haiku. Eventually I'll collect all 75 of my versions under one cover. In the meantime the reader can find a number of the poems in Heaven of Small Moments (Broken Jaw Press, 1998), Singing the Flowers Open (Gaspereau Press, 2001) and the new publication, The Black Swan (Owl's Head Press).
I've decided to include the 10 Lin Chu with this post, just so everyone can see what they look like. The "Little Cricket" poem I posted earlier appears at the end.
I saw you again today.
Your face still holds
the same clear lines of longing.
*
I want you to understand
I sleep alone
and think only of you.
*
When you're gone
this intensity
lingers on for hours.
*
I see faces in clouds,
in blossoms opening,
and each of them is yours.
*
When you're gone
I feel the sorrow
of blossoms falling.
*
I trace the creases around your eyes:
life lines
I've followed since my birth.
*
Today I saved an ant,
a spider and a moth.
And all the time I was thinking of you.
*
I saw you once with fireflies in your hair.
I reached out and touched them.
Others thought that I was flirting.
*
The wild strawberries are so intense
and fragile
I can't reach down and lift them to my mouth.
*
My desire
tangles
in the sound of your voice.
*
Little cricket, you called me.
My voice followed you
all the way home.
(Copyright 2006, Allan Cooper)
posted by Al Cooper at 6:09 PM
1 Comments:
A friend gave me Heaven of Small Moments on my 20th birthday, the year it was published. Since then, I lost the copy (lent it to a French-language editor in Toronto)and bought another. The Lin Chu poems especially were my very first love affair with poetry.
It's funny I should come accross you today in my virtual meanderings, because I was just thinking I should pick the poems up again and try my hand at translating some of them, just to see what I could come up with, perhaps even for an upcoming edition of ellipse (www.ellipsemag.org). Maybe this is a sign of sorts. What do you think?
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