An Email to Stephanie

This is a short poem I wrote to my friend Stephanie to congratulate her on launching her great new blog, which you can find by clicking on the link right below called wildnatureofny.com.


The more you put truth
Out into the world
The more room there
Will be for mistake
And misconstruction
Of your intent

But there's comfort
In that too since
Being misunderstood
Is likely the best sign
That you're already
On the road to be just as
You wanted to be

That's a good koan
For today don't
You think

From Cold Mountain to the Streets of Manhattan

I've just published a new issue of my Tang Spirit newsletter that includes new translations of poems by Han Shan.  Part of my current interest in Han Shan stems from the similarities I sense between his life in seclusion on a remote mountaintop and the life of my friend, Richard Musto, who lives on the streets of Manhattan.   Here's one of the poems I translated:

It’s funny how

Cold Mountain path

Proceeds along

Without a trace of

Horses and carts

As streams

Come together

It’s hard to remember

All their twists and turns

And the layers of peaks

That loom in the distance

Unknowable

The dew weeps

Upon a thousand

Blades of grass

And the wind

Moans in sync

With the pines

Here the path leads

To a bewildering place

Where each form asks

Of its shadow

From whence

It has come

可笑寒山道

而无车马踪

联谿难记曲

叠嶂不知重

泣露千般草

吟风一样松

You can find the full newsletter on the Tang Spirit website by clicking here.