Basho’s frog
In A Zen Wave, Robert Aitken calls it “probably the most famous poem in Japan.” The old pond; a frog jumps in – the sound of the water. It must surely be the most-translated of Basho’s haiku, or anyone...
View ArticleMon cher Degas
On the side of our refrigerator, I have a quotation from the 19th century poet Stéphane Mallarmé, speaking to his friend, the painter Edgar Degas, who was complaining about the difficulty of converting...
View ArticleKo|ans|wers for the 21st century
Late in the 20th century I put this comparison at the beginning of a Web essay: Old joke: Q: What did the Zen monk say to the hot dog vendor? A: Make me one with everything. New joke: Q: What …...
View ArticlePracticing with uncertainty: ‘Joshu’s dog spreads wings’
More than twenty years ago, I was a member of an amateur choral group that performed a Mozart Litany (K. 125). While it may have lacked the grandeur of the Verdi Requiem or the Beethoven Choral, it was...
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