Mack,

I'm sure you know Pound's "The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter." Probably best to reread it and then move on to these last three short essays here. I've read other versions than Pound's and nothing measures up to that beautiful "They hurt me. I grow older."

http://maps-legacy.org/poets/m_r/pound/letter.htm

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[QUOTE=John Cole;58493942]Where was it concealed?

he was a male stripper and sword swallower

[QUOTE=John Cole;58493948]

One time in Boston on a very hot day, and an old woman, a street person, approached me and asked me to buy her ice coffee


one time a homeless person put his hand out and said "i haven't had a bite in a week"
so i bit him

Glad you're back, Ray.

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I don't know if Pound is a great poet, but he is certainly one of the most interesting ones. I think River Wife is a great poem, perhaps perfect, based on the sole criterion that it is something that can be "chewed on" for several hours or several lifetimes.

Some, not all, of the linked essays are horrible. They offer opinions and conclusions stated as fact, making them perfect examples of "anti-poetry". Better to provide a road map to your thinking than telling where it led.

When I was a kid in high school I wandered into a used-book store and for a quarter bought a skimpy pamphlet by Pound called "The ABC of Reading". I'm not sure if all of these have read it.

https://monoskop.org/images/a/a4/Pou...of_Reading.pdf

The last three short essays mostly discuss Pound's translation compared to others, which are stiff by comparison, I think. But that's typical for Pound.

I have read the ABC of Reading and most of Pound's prose. My library is stored away, but I probably have a collection of around 50 books either by or about Pound.

I studied with one of the leading Pound scholars, Dan Pearlman. I did a year long independent study on Pound, and Dan taught me how to do research. After our first meeting, he gave me ten books to read and told me to come back when I finished them. He assigned his book and a couple books by people who disagreed with him.

Dan spent six months living with Pound while writing his book, and in our meetings he would say I can't remember if I read this or if Ezra told me this.

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He's here to make sure you get the spring thread out on time. Don't screw it up!

Things that should go the way of all flesh: Reply All.

You read (delete) the same crap over and beyond over.

Another thing: People who use reply all (maybe a bit too misanthropic. I'm not Zeno after all).

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I love it when a cascade of "take me off the list" emails come through on the gigantic reply all.

Hurry up with this. Snowing like a mfer here.

I slipped Ray's parole officer a couple of bills to spring him in time to supervise the changeover.

I can't be taken off the list even though emails are being sent to around 200 people.

Worse, sometimes I can't help myself when one of my dumb colleagues says something stupid. And most think when I do reply that I'm the voice of reason.

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evidence of ray zee getting lazy with the quote function
not sure which march bracket to seed that in

I think you and Ray came from that early age of computers when capital letters and punctuation took up too much memory, hence, no caps no punctuation.

PS. My then 12 year-old dropped "hence" on me during one conversation. I told her she was flying her nerd flag.

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safe to assume me late for being punctual
no cap for a period pinkie on shift key was not that common or justified right middle

Things I Want Decided

Which shouldn’t exist
in this world,
the one who forgets
or the one
who is forgotten?

Which is better,
to love
one who has died
or not to see
each other when you’re alive?

Which is better,
the distant lover
you long for
or the one you see daily
without desire?

Which is the least unreliable
among fickle things—
the swift rapids,
a flowing river,
or this human world?

All these
Japanese poems
I have been posting
are from...


The Ink Dark Moon:
Love Poems by Ono no Komachi
and Izumi Shikibu
Women of the Ancient Court of Japan (Vintage Classics)

By: Ono no Komachi, Izumi Shikibu, Jane Hirshfield, and Mariko Aratani

I can't recommend it enough.

My cousin lives down the street from Jane Hirshfeld and said she will invite her over next time I visit. I always like going to Marin, so maybe this summer.

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pound = nazi p,o,s

More of a fascist and admirer of Mussolini, a fool who thought if people listened to him the world would be a better place. But a great poet.

There's a long line of those who are great at one thing but hold reprehensible views: Bobby Fischer, Lindbergh, T.S. Eliot, Trump (wait, he's not great at anything).

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I did something yesterday I really wanted to do. I'm glad I did it. I will never do it again

I have been wearing a fitbit for the last 8 years. Tracking my steps/milage has become something of an addiction. I routinely do 25K to 35K steps a day. But yesterday I decided to go for a personal best. Previously I had done 50K in a day 3 times and 55K once. I woke up early and felt pretty good and started walking at 4:30am. I said this is it, today I am gonna hit 60K. My pace gets me about 6K per hour so 60K means I have to walk for 10 hours. I hit 30K at around 10am and felt great. But the more I went the more breaks I had to take. Shortly after 5pm I hit the 60K! The last 10K were tough. My feet were throbbing, my calves were sore and my shoulders hurt. But the feet were the worst. So I got my 60K (a little over 27 miles) and I collapsed in my lazy boy. I slept really good last night I took a couple of tylenol woke up and felt okay albeit a little stiff and sore. But I got 25K in today and feel pretty good. I plan to medicate with some alcohol tonight

Don't forget to drink green beer all weekend until you have an overwhelming urge to kiss the Blarney stone!

Wow, I walk a lot (for an lol USA#n-er), but nothing like that. Congratulations, mrb!

IDK about the greenness, but ~100% chance of beer tonight.

The problem with fitbit/steps addiction is you only care about steps. I went way overboard on steps last year which meant I didn't do enough other exersize. This year (despite yesterday) my steps are way down on purpose and I have been doing more health club and weight work.

Yeah, I'm not doing any green either but beer has already been ingested

ambitious exercise almost always pays off
never get stronger without testing limits

and sometimes just keeping even requires the same

I did a half marathon walking one day, but that was about seven years ago. I need to take up walking again. Old age is creeping up on me.

But what you did is nuts, MrB.

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curious about elevation change mrbb
sounds like pretty flat ground?