Denis Mair Poems

RIDDLES IN GREEN

1
The central pillar is so solid and definite
...

(---thanks to Brad Delany for the title)

After impulsive indulgence, the totality of choices must be weighed in the gut...
...

It's fitting to associate this panorama with agate,
That stone which has an inner vista half-revealed.
In order for your eye to peer into those layered veils,
You'll need rapt perception that gauges the gradients,
...

(trying to say something about literati aesthetics)

The intention to amplify a realm is brought to bear by an invisible arrangement of gimbals and gyroscopes...
...

Once I looked up into a tree at a bird
That was embowered in shady branches
And saw it languidly stretch one wing
As a sunbeam shone among the leaves
...

Size 14 black boots
across a field of new snow...
stomping with relish [1]
...

by Zhu Zhu
(translated by Denis Mair)

I
...

-—for Zhang Dai [1]

By Zhu Zhu
(Translated by Denis Mair)
...

Coins from mossy shrine:
A few less wouldn't matter
To sightless Jizo
...

Someone greeted me at the stoplight last night. I scanned the traffic for the source of voice. I walked past the idling vehicle, did not look closely, spoke the pleasantry 'drop by.'

Twilight does funny things with faces. Her hair so different from an earlier time. I let myself forget a fawn that once had once taken alarm. I had dropped my book off at her workplace, on an awkward whim, but only as fuel for walking. Maybe. I was simply eager to share my words; no intentions were intended.
...