Izumi Shikibu (born 976 AD?) wrote small poems of very fine detail. One I like especially is SKS Book 8: Love 2, poem 254: Take no fa ni Arare furu yo fa Sarasara ni Fitori fa nubeki Kokoti koso sene Very roughly translated as: Hailstones smacking the bamboo leaves; even more that usual, I don't want to sleep alone. Izumi always finds a massive feeling in the small image. All her loneliness and desire in the sound of hailstones on leaves outside the window. In Missouri, I once lived in a house with bamboo (an invasive weed here), and there is plenty of hail in the state. I know what that sound is. But Izumi...well, she hears not just the sound but the emotions in the sound, and says them out loud. I wish I had even a tiny sliver of her genius in small things.
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AuthorDana Delibovi-- Archives
May 2022
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