Ian Haight's blog

Ezra Pound: "The Jewel Stairs' Grievance"

In honor of National Poetry Month, here's another poem highly influential on my own writing--Ezra Pound's translation of "The Jewel Stairs' Grievance," originally by Li Po, taught and introduced to me by David Cope.  It was the idea so much could be said with so little that both caught and instructed me, as well as made me want to know more about Asian literature and culture.

The Jewel Stairs' Grievance

 

The jewelled steps are already quite white with dew,

It is so late that the dew soaks my gauze stockings,

And I let down the crystal curtain

And watch the moon through the clear autumn.

 

For those interested in a close reading of the poem check out this blog commentary, which includes Pound's own reading of the poem.

 

To an Isle in the Water/ William Butler Yeats

 

April is National Poetry Month as you may know.  I thought it would be fun to think about what poems attracted me to poetry in my young formative years; what poems made me want to write poetry?  Yeats' "To an Isle in the Water" is certainly one of the first, read with all the passion of a 19 year old fully idealized about love and unfortunately, possessing love--as if love could be possessed. 

 

To an Isle in the Water

            By W. B. Yeats

 

Shy one, shy one,

Shy one of my heart,

She moves in the firelight

Pensively apart.

 

She carries in the dishes,

And lays them in a row.

To an isle in the water

With her would I go.

 

She carries in the candles,

And lights the curtained room,

Shy in the doorway

And shy in the gloom.

 

And shy as a rabbit,

Helpful and shy.

To an isle in the water,

With her I would fly.

Peak Oil: Another Facet of a Large Global Conspiracy?

Since I posted recently about peak oil and I'm noticing lately a lot of facebookers slamming peak oil and talking about conspiracies I decided to do a little research.  Frankly I want to put my energy into writing in the next few days, but I did find this little tidbit for those willing to put some energy into it (I recommend skipping the opening paragraphs of diatribe; the "factual" numbers come at the end.  I use quotes around "factual" because I have not confirmed the sources or how the information is interpreted by this article).  Supposedly the U.S. has 21 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, not including the 100 billion in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve.  There are a number of conspiracy claims that go along with these numbers as to why the oil is not being utilized, besides what the mainstream media carries on the ANWR debate.  It is food for thought.  I suppose I love a good theory, especially if it sounds subversive. 

Bolivia's "Law of Mother Earth"

There's a lot I find noteworthy about Bolivia's initiative granting nature equal rights with human beings.  It's a beautiful concept which I love.  Gary Snyder and other eco folk have long called for a set of laws giving nature equal footing with human beings.  It's a recognition that nature and the world around us has worth more than dollar signs.  But what are the limits of nature?  Do we distinguish human beings from nature?  Obviously the law does and unfortunately most humans appear to, which may be the crux of the problem in the first place.  Still, do we give bugs the same equal right to life as human beings?  If so, how does one go about building a house?  It's an instructive question.  We can't help but kill insects when driving a car--it happens everyday and all the time.  I like living in my house better than living in a tent. 

Bolivia hasn't worked out all the kinks yet, but the precedent is an important one.  I can imagine how this is a precedent more important than the application.  Maybe like our own Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence.  It took generations to figure out that according to these documents all men of all races and ethnicities--and women--are entitled to equal rights.  It took several more generations to come up with practicable laws to guarantee these rights.  And now we continue to learn to live with these laws so that their meaning and intention become part of our thoughts and actions, as if natural and obvious.  Well that's the theory anyway.  Under these terms Bolivia is setting the stage for a process.  As technology develops and becomes cheaper, maybe all the issues about respecting bugs and where do we draw boundaries for "necessary" death and destruction will simply disappear. 

The IMF, peak oil, and Kyung-sook Shin's "Please Look after Mom"

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here.  I plead an overwhelming training and spring break.  Luckily the training is near an end but spring break continues….

On the plane to and from Korea I had a chance to run through several newspapers.  I don’t want to add too much to the conversation on Maureen Corrigan’s controversial review of Kyung-sook Shin's Please Look after Mom, newly released from Knopf and on its way to becoming a bestseller in America.  Much has been said about Corrigan’s review already. 

Corrigan notes the book is “anti-city, anti-modernist, anti-feminist.”  Please read the review so as not to take this out of context; I believe Corrigan is making an observation by that statement, not a judgment.  Let me just say that right now, it’s an easy position for a Korean writer or most any writer to maintain—at least the anti-city part, and maybe also the anti-modernist part.  Anti-feminist is cultural judgment territory that I don’t want to enter at this time. 

Skip the obvious weight of the anti-city, anti-modernist move for a Korean writer—the loss of blue skies, miles and miles of apartment buildings, lack of any kind of space that is not somehow also shared, the sacrifice of childhood to an ideal—let me instead concentrate for now on what the IMF has to say about our fossil fuel driven civilization. 

The IMF recently stated the trend for increasing global oil prices indicates oil is becoming a scarcer commodity.  Plenty has been said about peak oil and its consequences.  I have read just as many experts, executives, and investors in the oil trade say peak oil is a real problem as I have read denials.  Not that I entirely trust the IMF, but here we have an international monetary body making recommendations to shift the world’s economies away from fossil fuel because oil is becoming scarcer.

What does all this have to do with Please Look after Mom?  There’s a difference between condemning cities and condemning how we live in them; there’s also a difference between condemning modernism and asking that it be re-defined.  I haven’t read Please Look after Mom and probably won’t because of where my reading interests lie.  At the same time, questions about how we live in cities and what it means to be modern matter a lot in this contemporary moment, and I'm not sure the message in Please Look After Mom is so folksy, homely, anti-feminist (there, I said it!) or out-of-step.