free verse
Found Poem (letter from sponsored child in Vietnam)
The following is a word-for-word copy of a letter from a girl I have sponsored for years who lives in Quang Uyen, a little village up in the mountains somewhere in north Vietnam. I enjoy every letter I receive from here, but in this one I noticed that there was an interesting cadence which was simple, authentic, and reminded me a little of the kinds of rhythms we often find in translated Haiku and Tanka.
All I have done is try to bring forth music from the prose by inserting line breaks:
QUANG UYEN, DECEMBER 19, 2016
Please imagine
how delighted
I am
upon receiving
your letter.
The Cherry blossom
that you told me
must be
very beautiful.
It’s winter here
in my place
and the weather
is so cold
that there isn’t
any kind of flower
that can bloom.
I am
preparing
for my final
tests of semester
one,
so I study
harder
than usual.
I love sports
and drawing pictures.
I often
read books
at midday
to relax,
and I love
fairy tale comics.
Recently
I haven’t gone
fishing very often,
because
the water
is too cold
and there isn’t
a lot of fish.
Besides,
now I am
grown up and
can help my parents
more
with their work.
Please send
my best regards
to your mother.
I would
stop here
and wish you
good health
as well as
happiness for always!
Yours,
Ma Thi Ngan.
~
Two Poems by Billy Collins about Dogs
LOST MOUNTAIN (poem)
Addressing you
by your true name,
calling to you
from the highest peak
above persistent low cloud
and heavy weather,
is the voice
of Lost Mountain
singing a song of lament
for your absence,
sad for the love
it can no longer share.
So subtle is the melody
that to imbibe it,
your heart becomes an ear,
and your mind becomes an eye,
and your eyes become fingers,
and your hands are therefore left
to be lips,
lost for words,
pressed together,
still and upright,
so as
to at least
humbly mirror
such a quiescent gesture.
~
GD Bates 